of the Faithful had charged me with your welfare, I would have cut off your head.’

He then added, ‘If you wish to drink, then drink; or, if you prefer, we will bring you something else.’

ʿAlī replied, ‘I want what is already in my hand,’ and he drank.

Muslim ibn ʿUqbah said to him, ‘Come over here and sit,’ and seated him beside himself upon the couch. ‘The Commander of the Faithful has entrusted you to me,’ he continued, ‘but these people have kept me occupied. Perhaps your family have been alarmed?’

‘Indeed, by Allah,’ ʿAlī answered. Muslim ordered that his mount be saddled, set him upon it, and escorted him back to his house with honor.

He then summoned ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān—who had not fought alongside the Umayyads—and said, ‘When the people of Madinah seemed likely to prevail you declared, “I am with you,” but when the Syrians gained the upper hand you said, “I am the son of the Commander of the Faithful.”’ He then commanded that ʿAmr’s large beard be plucked out in front of him.

Al-Madāʾinī reports: Muslim ibn ʿUqbah gave Madinah over to pillage for three days. They killed whoever fell into their hands and seized people’s property.

Saʿdā bint ʿAwf al-Marriyyah sent word to Muslim saying, ‘I am your cousin; order your men not to touch our camels at such-and-such a place.’ He told his troops, ‘Begin by seizing her camels first.’

Another woman came and said, ‘I am your client, and my son is among the captives.’ He said, ‘Grant her request quickly,’ whereupon her son was beheaded. ‘Give her his head,’ he added. ‘Are you not satisfied that he was not killed until you spoke on his behalf?’

They even assaulted the women. It was said that during those days a thousand women conceived without husbands—Allah knows best.

Al-Madāʾinī, on the authority of Abū Qurrah, relates that Hishām ibn Ḥassān said: ‘One thousand women of Madinah gave birth after the Battle of al-Ḥarrah without having husbands.’

A number of leading Companions went into hiding, among them Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah. Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī fled to a cave in the mountain, but a man from Syria pursued him. Abū Saʿīd said, ‘When I saw him I drew my sword and he advanced toward me; when he realized who I was he resolved to kill me. I sheathed my sword and said: “Indeed, I wish for you to bear my sin and your sin, and thus become one of the people of the Fire; that is the recompense of the wrongdoers” (Qur’an 5:29). When he heard this he asked, “Who are you?” I replied, “I am Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī.” “The Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?” he exclaimed. I said, “Yes,” so he left me and went away.’

Al-Madāʾinī continues: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib was brought before Muslim, who said, ‘Give the pledge of allegiance.’ Saʿīd replied, ‘I will pledge upon the model of Abu Bakr and ʿUmar.’ Muslim ordered that his neck be struck, but a man testified that Saʿīd was insane, so he set him free.

Al-Madāʾinī further relates—through ʿAbd Allah al-Qurashī and Abū Isḥāq al-Tamīmī—that when the people of Madinah were routed on the day of al-Ḥarrah, the women and children cried out, and Ibn ʿUmar said, ‘By ʿUthmān, by the Lord of the Kaʿbah!’

He also reports, on the authority of an elder of Madinah, that when he asked al-Zuhrī how many had been killed on that day, al-Zuhrī replied, ‘Seven hundred of the notables among the Muhājirūn and Anṣār and the leading freedmen, and many others whom I do not know—free men, slaves, and the rest.’