and was a nobleman whom his people obeyed. The monastery of Baḥdal, in the district of Bayt al-Abar ⦗1⦘, situated just outside Damascus ⦗2⦘, is named after him.

Then came the year 66 AH.

In that year al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī—the liar—rose up in Kūfah, claiming that he meant to avenge al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, and he drove out the city’s governor, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mutīʿ. The reason was that when the followers of Sulaymān ibn Ṣurrad returned to Kūfah in chains ⦗3⦘ they found al-Mukhtār in prison. He wrote to them, consoling them for Sulaymān ibn Ṣurrad and saying, “I will take his place, and I shall kill the murderers of al-Ḥusayn.” Rifaʿah ibn Shaddād—who had brought back the survivors of the Army of the Penitents—wrote to him: “We are upon what you wish.” Al-Mukhtār then began ⦗4⦘ to make them promises and fill them with hopes, but the liar ⦗5⦘ promised nothing but delusion. In a secret letter ⦗6⦘ he told them, “Rejoice! For if I were to sally forth against them, I would unsheathe the sword from East to West against your enemies and, by Allah’s permission, pile them up in heaps, killing them singly ⦗7⦘ and in pairs. Allah will welcome whoever draws near and follows guidance, and He will cast far only him who refuses and disobeys.”

When his letter reached them, they read it in secret and replied, “We are as you desire; whenever you wish, we shall release you from your confinement.” He disliked being freed by force in open defiance of Kūfah’s deputies, so he adopted a subtler course. He wrote to the husband of his sister Ṣafiyyah—a righteous woman—her husband being ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, asking him to intercede for his release with the two deputies of Kūfah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Khaṭmī and Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah. Ibn ʿUmar wrote to them, pleading on his behalf, and they found no way to refuse him. Among the words Ibn ʿUmar wrote were: “You both know the affection between us, and the kinship and marriage bond that links me to al-Mukhtār. By Allah, I adjure you to set him free. Peace.” ⦗8⦘

They therefore summoned him, and a group of his followers posted surety for him. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd made him swear that, should he plot any harm against the Muslims, he would be liable to sacrifice one thousand camels in front of the Kaʿbah, and that every male and female slave he possessed would become free. Al-Mukhtār accepted these terms and remained in his house, repeatedly saying, “May Allah fight the pair of them! As for my oath ⦗9⦘ by Allah, I never swear an oath and then see something better than it without making expiation for it.”