the Prophet ﷺ, and several of his narrations are found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and other collections. He fought alongside ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn. His home was one of the places where the Shīʿa gathered to pledge allegiance to al-Ḥusayn, and he was among those who wrote inviting al-Ḥusayn to come to Iraq. When al-Ḥusayn arrived, was killed at Karbalāʾ, and these men realized that they had been the cause of his coming and had abandoned him until he and his family were slain, they regretted what they had done to him.

They therefore assembled in this army and called it the Army of the Penitents, naming their leader, Sulaymān b. Ṣurad, the Commander of the Penitents. Sulaymān—may Allah be pleased with him—was killed in that engagement at ʿAyn al-Warda in the year 65 AH; some say 67 AH, but the first date is sounder. He was ninety-three years old on the day he was killed—may Allah have mercy on him.

[As for al-Musayyib b. Najaba b. Rabīʿa al-Fazārī, he had come from Iraq with Khālid b. al-Walīd, took part in the conquest of Damascus, then returned to Iraq and fought alongside ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn and elsewhere. He was one of the elders who rose to seek vengeance for al-Ḥusayn’s blood—may Allah be pleased with him] (1)

His head and the head of Sulaymān b. Ṣurad were carried to Marwān b. al-Ḥakam after the battle. The Syrian commanders wrote to Marwān of the victory Allah had granted them and of the enemy He had delivered into their hands. Marwān then addressed the people, informing them of the army’s affairs and of those of the Iraqis who had been slain—[declaring, “May Allah destroy the leaders of misguidance, Sulaymān b. Ṣurad and his companions,” and he displayed the heads in Damascus] (2).

Marwān b. al-Ḥakam had already stipulated that authority after him would pass to his two sons, first to ʿAbd al-Malik and then to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and in this very year he secured the governors’ pledges of allegiance to that arrangement. So reports Ibn Jarīr (3) and others.

In the same year Marwān b. al-Ḥakam and ʿAmr b. Saʿīd al-Ashdaq entered Egypt and seized it from the deputy of ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Juhdam. The sequence of events was as follows: Marwān advanced on Egypt; its deputy Ibn Juhdam came out to fight him; Marwān engaged him, occupying him in battle, while ʿAmr b. Saʿīd slipped past ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Juhdam with a detachment of troops, entered Egypt, and captured it. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān fled; Marwān then entered Egypt, gained control, and appointed his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as governor.

That same year Ibn al-Zubayr sent his brother Muṣʿab to conquer Syria on his behalf, but Marwān dispatched ʿAmr b. Saʿīd against him. They met in Palestine, whereupon Muṣʿab b. al-Zubayr fled and turned back without achieving anything. Thus Syria and Egypt remained firmly under Marwān’s rule.

[Al-Wāqidī said: Marwān besieged Egypt, so ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Juhdam dug a trench around the city and went out…]