as for the ruthless destroyer, he was al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī. He later governed Kūfah on behalf of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, as will be explained. Al-Ḥajjāj was the very opposite of that other man: a hard-line nāṣibī (one who harbors enmity toward the Family of the Prophet), a harsh, overbearing tyrant. Yet he never sank to the level of the first, who was suspected of abandoning Islam, of propagating a clandestine “call to salvation,” and of claiming that revelation descended upon him from the All-Knowing, the Most High.

Ibn Jarīr said:
“In this same year al-Mukhtār dispatched al-Muthannā ibn Mukhribah 1 al-ʿAbdī to Basra to summon to his cause whomsoever he could among its inhabitants. On arriving he built a mosque where his tribesmen could assemble, and there he began preaching on al-Mukhtār’s behalf. He then moved on to the town of Madīnat al-Rizq, 2 where he encamped. Al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rabīʿah al-Qubāʿ—then governor of Basra, prior to his dismissal in favor of Muṣʿab—sent against him an army under ʿUbbād ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, the chief of police, together with Qays ibn al-Haytham. They fought him, seized the town, and his followers scattered in flight. The clan of ʿAbd al-Qays had risen to aid him, so the government forces marched against them as well. They, in turn, sent envoys, whereupon al-Ḥārith dispatched al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays and ʿUmar 3 ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī to reconcile the parties, assisted by Mālik ibn Masmaʿ. Thus the two sides disengaged from one another. Al-Muthannā returned to al-Mukhtār with only a few men—defeated, stripped, and in fetters—and reported to him the armistice brokered by al-Aḥnaf and the other notables. Al-Mukhtār coveted their support and wrote to them, inviting them to join him in his undertaking.

His letter to al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays ran as follows:
“From al-Mukhtār to al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays and those with him: peace be upon you. 4 To proceed: Woe to the sons of Rabīʿah at the hands of Muḍar! Al-Aḥnaf is about to drive his people into Saqar, where there will be no room for them to draw breath; 5 I have no power to avert what is inscribed in destiny. I have also learned that you call me a liar. Prophets before me were branded liars, and I am no better than they.”

Ibn Jarīr 6 also related: “Abū al-Sāʾib Salm ibn Junādah told me—he said: al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥammād narrated to us, from Ḥammād 7 ibn ʿAlī, from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbī—who said:

“I entered Basra and sat in a study circle where al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays was present.

“Some of the men asked, ‘Where are you from?’

“I replied, ‘A man from Kūfah.’

“He said, ‘You are our mawālī (clients).’

“I asked, ‘How so?’

“He answered, ‘We rescued you from the hands of your own slaves—the followers of al-Mukhtār.’

“I said, ‘Do you know what an elder from Hamdān said about us and about you?’

“Al-Aḥnaf asked, ‘And what did he say?’

“I replied that he said:
You boast that you killed mere slaves
and once put to flight the House of ʿAdl. 8"