with four hundred (1) horsemen. They struck the army of Shurahbīl b. Dhī al-Kilāʿ while it was out on campaign (2), killed a number of its men, wounded others, and carried off livestock.

When news of this reached ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziyād, he sent al-Ḥuṣayn b. Numayr ahead of him. At daybreak al-Ḥuṣayn fell upon Sulaymān b. Ṣurad and his forces. The two armies drew up against one another on Wednesday, with eight days left in Jumādā al-Ūlā. Al-Ḥuṣayn b. Numayr stood at the head of twelve thousand men, and both sides had made ready for their foe.

The Syrians called on Sulaymān’s followers to submit to the authority of Marwān b. al-Ḥakam, while Sulaymān’s men demanded that the Syrians hand over ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziyād so they might kill him in retaliation for al-Ḥusayn. Neither side would concede, and they fought a fierce battle for most of the day until nightfall, the advantage that day going to the Iraqis.

At dawn the next morning Ibn Dhī al-Kilāʿ arrived to reinforce the Syrians with eight thousand (3) horsemen, though Ibn Ziyād rebuked and insulted him. That day the fighting was of a kind the grey-haired and the beardless alike had never witnessed; nothing separated the combatants save the times of prayer, and that only until night.

When dawn broke on the third day—Friday—Adham b. Muḥriz reached the Syrians with ten thousand men. A savage engagement raged until the sun had risen well into the forenoon. Then the Syrians wheeled round, encircled the Iraqis on every side, and Sulaymān b. Ṣurad addressed his men, urging them to jihad. The battle grew even more intense. Sulaymān dismounted, broke the scabbard of his sword and cried, “O servants of Allah! Whoever desires to set out for Paradise, to repent of his sin, and to fulfil his pledge, let him come to me.” Many dismounted with him, smashed the scabbards of their swords, and charged until they were in the very midst of the enemy, killing so many Syrians that they were wading in blood. Sulaymān b. Ṣurad, the commander of the Iraqis, was slain (4).

Yazīd b. al-Ḥuṣayn shot him with an arrow; he fell, rose, fell again, rose once more, and fell, all the while saying, “By the Lord of the Kaʿbah, I have triumphed!” Al-Musayyab b. Najabah then took up the banner and fought with great ferocity, reciting:

The one of swaying tresses knows full well,
fair of throat and breast so clear,
that on the day of terror and contest
I am braver than a charging lion (5),
the crusher (6) of peers, the man whose flank is feared (7).

He continued to fight fiercely until Ibn Najabah met his appointed end, joining his companions in that very encounter—may Allah be pleased with them. Then