When they were about to leave, not one of them would move off (1) until he had reached the grave, invoked mercy upon him, and sought forgiveness for him, crowding together even more tightly than pilgrims pressing toward the Black Stone.

They then set out for Syria. When they passed by Qarqīsiyah (2), Zafar b. al-Hārith shut himself up within the town. Sulaymān b. Ṣurad sent word to him: “We have not come to fight you. Send a market out to us; we will stay with you only a day or part of a day.” Zafar b. al-Hārith ordered that a market be taken outside to them, and he granted the messenger—al-Musayyab b. Najabah—a horse and one thousand dirhams. The envoy replied, “The money I must decline, but the horse I accept.”

Zafar then dispatched to Sulaymān b. Ṣurad and to each of the chief commanders with him twenty camels, together with food and abundant fodder. He came out to see them off, journeyed a short distance with Sulaymān, and said, “News has reached me that the Syrians have equipped a large and mighty army led by Ḥuṣayn b. Numayr, Shurahbīl b. Dhī al-Kilāʿ, Adham b. Muḥarriz al-Bāhilī, Rabīʿah b. al-Mukhāriq al-Ghanawī, and Jablah b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Khathʿamī.”

Sulaymān b. Ṣurad replied, “In Allah we place our trust, and upon Allah let the believers rely.”

Zafar offered that they enter his city or remain at its gate, so that if anyone advanced against them he would stand with them. They refused, saying, “The people of our own town offered us the same, and we declined.” He said, “If you will not do that, then move quickly to ʿAyn al-Wardah; there the water, the town, the markets, and the racecourse will be at your backs, and between us and you you will be safe.” He then advised them on how to conduct themselves in battle (3): “Do not meet them on open ground; they outnumber you and will surround you. I do not see many infantry with you, whereas they have troops and horsemen in compact battalions. Beware of them.”

Sulaymān b. Ṣurad and the others spoke well of him, and he took his leave.

Sulaymān hurried on to ʿAyn al-Wardah, encamped on its western side, and remained there [five days] before the enemy arrived. Sulaymān and his companions rested and felt reassured.

The Battle of ʿAyn al-Wardah

When the approach of the Syrian forces drew near, Sulaymān addressed his men, urging them toward the Hereafter, detaching them from this world, and spurring them to jihad. He declared, “If I am killed, your commander will be al-Musayyab b. Najabah; if he is killed, then ʿAbd Allāh b. Saʿd b. Nufayl; if he is killed, then ʿAbd Allāh b. Wāl; and if he is killed, then Rafāʿah b. Shaddād.” He then sent al-Musayyab b. Najabah ahead of him