this ruthless brute (1). By Allah, I shall surely kill them, even after all the kindness and repeated pardons I have shown them.’

Nuʿmān protested, ‘Commander of the Faithful, I adjure you by Allah with regard to your own kinsfolk and to the Helpers of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’

ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar then said, ‘Tell me, if they return to your obedience will you accept it from them?’ Yazīd replied, ‘If they do, they will suffer no harm.’

Yazīd next instructed Muslim ibn ʿUqbah: ‘Call the people to obey me three times. If they comply, accept it and leave them in peace; if not, seek Allah’s help and fight them. Should you prevail, grant Madinah to the troops for plunder for three days, then restrain the men. Pay special heed to ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn: lay no hand on him, treat him well, and seat him close to you, for he has had no part in what the others have done. When you have finished with Madinah, proceed to Mecca to besiege Ibn al-Zubayr (2). If anything befalls you, command of the army passes to Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr al-Sakūnī.’

Yazīd had already written to ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād, ordering him to march against Ibn al-Zubayr (3) and besiege him in Mecca, but he refused, saying, ‘By Allah, I shall never commit the two crimes for that profligate: shall I kill the grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and then assault the Sacred House as well?’ His mother Marjānah had rebuked him harshly when al-Ḥusayn was killed, crying, ‘Woe to you! What have you done—what deed have you dared commit?’

They also report that word reached Yazīd that Ibn al-Zubayr was declaring in his sermons, ‘Yazīd is a leader of apes, a wine-drinker, one who abandons the prayers, forever absorbed with singing-girls.’

When Muslim ibn ʿUqbah had equipped his force and reviewed the army in Damascus, he was heard declaiming:
Convey to Abū Bakr when the host sets out,
when the army looms over Wādī al-Qurā:
“Do you see a single drunkard among the ranks?
What a marvel—an infidel in the Mother of Towns,
a cheat of the faith who deals in lies.” (4)

Another version has:
Tell Abū Bakr when the matter is resolved,
when the troops encamp at Wādī al-Qurā:
“Twenty thousand, young and old alike—
do you spy one drunkard among this array?” (5)

They say that Muslim then marched with his forces toward Madinah. As he drew near, the people of the city tightened their blockade of the Umayyads, saying, ‘By Allah, we will kill every last one of you unless you give us a solemn pledge not to guide any of these Syrians against us or aid them in any way.’ The Umayyads swore to this. When the army arrived, the Umayyads came out to meet them, and Muslim began questioning them