and a directive that has been made plain to me—one that will bring glory to your patron, cut down your foe, and soothe your hearts. So listen to me and obey my command; then rejoice and give one another glad tidings, for I stand surety that you shall obtain everything you hope for and love.”
A large number of the Shiʿah gathered around him, yet the majority of them still sided with Sulaymān ibn Surad.
When Sulaymān set out with them toward al-Nukhaylah, ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Shabath ibn Ribʿī, and others said to ʿAbd Allah ibn Ziyād, the governor of Kūfah, “Al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd is a greater threat to you than Sulaymān ibn Surad.”
Ibn Ziyād therefore ordered the police to surround Mukhtār’s house; he was arrested and taken to prison in shackles—although some say without shackles—where he remained for a time and fell ill.
Abū Mikhnaf relates: Yahyā ibn Abī ʿĪsā told me that he said, “I entered upon him with Ḥumayd ibn Muslim al-Azdī to visit and look after him, and I heard him say:
‘By the Lord of the seas, the palms and the trees, the boundless wildernesses (1) and barren wastes, the righteous angels, and the devout worshippers, I shall kill every tyrant with every supple, whistling spear (2) and every keen-edged Indian blade, at the head of hosts of helpers who are neither feeble novices (3) nor wicked cowards. When I have set the pillar of the religion upright, healed the rift among the Muslims, cooled the burning hearts of the believers, and exacted vengeance for the offspring of the Prophets, I shall not mourn the loss of this world, nor care when death draws near.’
“Whenever we visited him in prison,” he added, “he would keep repeating these words to us until he was released.”
Account of the Demolition and Rebuilding of the Kaʿbah during the Days of Ibn al-Zubayr
Ibn Jarīr states: In this very year Ibn al-Zubayr demolished the Kaʿbah, for one of its walls had leaned after being struck by catapult stones. He tore the wall down until he reached the foundation laid by Ibrāhīm. During that time the people performed ṭawāf and prayed from behind the work site. He placed the Black Stone in a chest lined with a piece of silk, and the gold ornaments, cloths, and perfumes that had been inside the Kaʿbah were entrusted to the custodians (4) until Ibn al-Zubayr rebuilt it (5) in the form the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had wished to give it.
This accords with what is firmly established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and in other Musnads and Sunan through various chains from ʿĀʾishah, Mother of the Believers, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Were it not that your people have only recently emerged from disbelief, I would demolish the Kaʿbah and incorporate the Ḥijr within it—for your people were limited by lack of funds—and I would give it an eastern door and a western door so that the people might enter by one and leave by the other. I would also lower its doorway to the ground, for your people raised it so they could admit whom they pleased and bar whom they pleased.” (6)