Al-Mukhtār then dispatched commanders to the districts, towns, provinces, and rural estates of Iraq and Khurasan. He bestowed standards and banners upon them, confirmed their governorships and administrative posts, and would sit morning and evening to adjudicate the people’s disputes. When the burden became too heavy, he appointed Shurayḥ as chief judge. A group of the Shīʿah protested, saying, “He bore witness against Ḥajr ibn ʿAdī, he failed to convey the message Hāniʾ ibn ʿUrwah entrusted to him, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib had already removed him from office.” When word reached Shurayḥ, he feigned illness and stayed at home. Al-Mukhtār replaced him with ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd, then dismissed him and installed ʿAbd Allah ibn Mālik al-Ṭāʾī as judge (1).
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Al-Mukhtār next set about hunting down the killers of al-Ḥusayn, highborn or lowly, and executed them. The immediate cause was that ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād, whom Marwān had sent from Damascus to enter Kūfah—with orders that, if he took the city, he might sack it for three days—was marching on Kūfah. Ibn Ziyād met the Army of the Penitents at ʿAyn al-Wardah, as mentioned earlier, and then continued (2) until he reached al-Jazīrah, where he found the tribe of Qays ʿAylān, supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr. Marwān had slain many of them on the day of Marj Rāhiṭ, so they bore a fierce grudge against him and against his son ʿAbd al-Malik after him. Because of this, Ibn Ziyād was delayed a full year, locked in warfare with Qays ʿAylān in al-Jazīrah. He then arrived at Mosul, whose governor withdrew (3) to Tikrīt and wrote to al-Mukhtār informing him of the situation. Al-Mukhtār thereupon mobilised Yazīd ibn (4) Anas with three thousand picked men and told him, “I shall reinforce you with contingent after contingent.” Yazīd replied, “Reinforce me only with your supplication.”
Al-Mukhtār accompanied him to the outskirts of Kūfah, bade him farewell, and prayed for him, saying, “Let me hear from you every day. When you meet the enemy, strike them at once (5) and do not waste an opportunity.”
When Ibn Ziyād learned of their departure, he sent two advance detachments ahead of him: one of three thousand under Rabīʿah ibn Mukhāriq, the other of three thousand under ʿAbd Allah ibn Ḥamlah. He said, “Whoever reaches the foe first is the commander; if you arrive together, the eldest of you shall command.” Rabīʿah ibn Mukhāriq reached Yazīd ibn Anas first, and they confronted each other on the edge of the Mosul plain nearest Kūfah. There they stood facing one another, while Yazīd ibn Anas, gravely ill, still urged his men to jihad, moving among the divisions while being carried, exhausted on a donkey, calling out, “O Shurṭat Allah, remain steadfast and you will be rewarded; fight your enemy and you will prevail.” He then dismounted, had a couch placed for him between the two lines, and said to his men, “Fight on behalf of your commander if you wish, or leave him.” (6)
He announced to the people, “If I perish, then the commander (7)