about the news, yet no one would tell me anything, and that has weighed heavily upon me.”

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān then approached him and said, “If you are seeking victory, pitch your camp to the east of Madinah on the lava plain (al-ḥarra). When they come out against you, the sun will be at your backs and in their faces. Invite them to obedience; if they respond, spare them. Otherwise, seek Allah’s help and fight them, for Allah will grant you victory over them since they have defied the Imam and broken their pledge of obedience.”

Muslim ibn ʿUqbah thanked him for the counsel and carried it out. He encamped to the east of Madinah on the ḥarra and called its people to submit for three days, yet each time they insisted on nothing but battle. When the three days were up, he addressed them on the fourth day—Wednesday, with two nights remaining in Dhu al-Ḥijjah, 63 AH—saying:

“O people of Madinah, the three days have passed. The Commander of the Faithful told me that you are his own kin and clan, that he loathes spilling your blood, and that he ordered me to grant you a three-day respite—but it has now expired. What will you do? Will you make peace, or will you fight?”

They answered, “We will fight.”

He replied, “Do not do that. Make peace, and we shall turn our weapons and our strength against this atheist—meaning Ibn al-Zubayr.”

They retorted, “Enemy of Allah! By Allah, even if you wanted that, we would not allow it. Would we leave you to go and commit sacrilege in the Sacred House of Allah?”

They then prepared for combat. They had already dug a trench between themselves and Ibn ʿUqbah and arranged their forces into four divisions, each under a commander; the strongest of these divisions was the one led by ʿAbd Allah ibn Ḥanẓala al-Ghasīl. A fierce battle ensued, and the people of Madinah were finally driven back into the city.

Numerous nobles and leading figures were slain on both sides, among them: ʿAbd Allah ibn Muṭīʿ and seven of his sons who fought before him; ʿAbd Allah ibn Ḥanẓala al-Ghasīl; his maternal brother Muḥammad ibn Thābit ibn Shammās; and Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm. Marwān passed by the latter as he lay slain ⦗1⦘ and said, “May Allah have mercy on you! How often have I seen you prolonging your standing and prostration beside a pillar!”

Muslim ibn ʿUqbah—whom the early scholars nicknamed Misrif ibn ʿUqbah, “may Allah disgrace that ignorant old reprobate”—then allowed Madinah to be pillaged for three days, exactly as Yazīd had ordered—may Allah not reward him for it. He killed multitudes of its nobles and Qur’an-reciters, seized vast amounts of wealth, and, as more than one historian relates, unleashed grievous evil and widespread corruption. Among those executed before him in cold blood was Maʿqil ibn Sinān; though once his friend, Maʿqil had spoken harshly of Yazīd, and Muslim took revenge on him for that.

He next summoned ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. The latter came walking between Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam and Marwān’s son ʿAbd al-Malik so that they might secure him safe-conduct, unaware that Yazīd had already commended him to Muslim’s care. When ʿAlī sat before him, Marwān called for a drink. Muslim had brought ice from Syria to Madinah to chill his beverage ⦗2⦘. When the drink arrived, Marwān sipped a little and then handed the remainder to ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn so that it might serve as a pledge of safety for him; Marwān was on friendly terms with him.

Seeing the cup in ʿAlī’s hand, Muslim ibn ʿUqbah said, “Do not drink from our beverage.” He then added, “Did you come with these two so that you might feel secure in their presence?” ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn’s hand trembled; he neither set the cup down nor drank from it. Muslim then said to him, “Had it not been that the Commander…"