They then presented themselves to Yazid, who honoured them, treated them kindly, and granted them generous gifts. They set off on the return journey to Madinah, all except al-Mundhir ibn al-Zubayr, who went on to his associate ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad in Basra. Yazid had given him a stipend of one hundred thousand—just as he had given the rest of the delegation.

When the envoys from Madinah reached home they openly cursed and disparaged Yazid, saying, “We have come from a man who has no religion: he drinks wine, and singing-girls entertain him with instruments. We testify before you that we have deposed him.” The people followed them in rejecting him and pledged allegiance to ʿAbd Allah ibn Ḥanzalah—son of the one washed by the angels—to fight to the death. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab disapproved of their action. Al-Mundhir ibn al-Zubayr returned from Basra to Madinah, agreed with them in deposing Yazid, and informed them that Yazid drank wine and became so intoxicated that he would abandon the prayer; he criticised him even more harshly than the others.

When word of this reached Yazid he said, “O Allah, I showed him favour and honoured him, yet he has done what You see; so overtake him and avenge me on him.”

Yazid then dispatched al-Nuʿman ibn Bashir to the people of Madinah, forbidding them what they had done, warning them of its consequences, and ordering them to return to obedience—listening, complying, and holding fast to the unity of the community. Al-Nuʿman went to them, carried out Yazid’s instructions, and frightened them with the prospect of civil strife. He said, “Fitnah is disastrous; you have no power to withstand the Syrians.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muṭiʿ replied, “What moves you, O Nuʿman, to scatter our unity and spoil what Allah has set right for us?”

Al-Nuʿman answered, “By Allah, it is as though I can already see you having abandoned (1) the very things you now advocate, while men—standing knee-deep—strike the tops of people’s heads and their foreheads with swords, the mill-stone of death grinding between the two sides. You will have spurred your mule toward me, leaving those poor souls—the Ansar—to be slain in their streets, their mosques, and at their own doorways.” The people disobeyed him and would not listen, so he withdrew; and, by Allah, events unfolded exactly as he had foretold.

Ibn Jarir (2) said: “That year al-Walid ibn ʿUtbah led the pilgrimage.”

Such is his statement, but it warrants examination. For if the delegation from Madinah had indeed just returned from Yazid, then it was ʿUthman ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Sufyan who was the envoy. If, however, al-Walid conducted the Hajj that year, the deputation from Madinah would not have reached Yazid until the beginning of 63 AH—and that seems more plausible. Allah knows best.

Among the notable people who died in that same year was Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb al-Aslami (3). He embraced Islam when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by him during the migration to Madinah at