and if you should vie with us in boasting, then recall what we did to you on the Day of the Camel:
Between an old man whose beard was stained red and a fair, radiant youth whose robe swept the ground. (1)
He came tottering along in a coat of mail, and we slaughtered him in broad daylight, the way a lamb is slaughtered.
We pardoned you, yet you forgot that pardon and denied Allah’s greatest favor.
And in retaliation for Ḥusayn you killed some of them (2)
—taking the worst of substitutes in place of your own people.
He (al-Shaʿbī) said: Al-Aḥnaf grew angry and exclaimed, “Boy, bring me the parchment!”
A document was brought in which was written:
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. From al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd to al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays. To proceed: Woe to the mother of Rabīʿah at the hands of Muḍar! Al-Aḥnaf is about to drive his people into Saqar (the Blaze of Hell), where they will find no escape. I have learned that you brand me a liar. If I have been called a liar, messengers before me were called liars, and I am no better than they.”
Al-Aḥnaf then said, “Is this from us or from you?”
Section (3)
When al-Mukhtār realized that Ibn al-Zubayr would not relax his watch over him, and that the Syrian army sent by ʿAbd al-Malik with Ibn Ziyād was advancing upon him in a huge host that could not be resisted, he began to court Ibn al-Zubayr, intending to deceive and outwit him.
He wrote to him:
“I pledged myself to you to listen, obey, and give you sincere counsel. When I saw you turn away from me, I likewise distanced myself from you. If you remain as I first knew you, then I am ready to listen and obey.”
Al-Mukhtār concealed all of this completely from the Shīʿah; whenever anyone mentioned it in his presence he pretended to be the last person who would ever do such a thing.
When his letter reached Ibn al-Zubayr, the latter wished to know whether he was truthful or lying. He summoned ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām al-Makhzūmī and said to him, “Prepare yourself for Kūfah, for I have appointed you its governor.”
He replied, “How can that be when al-Mukhtār is there?”
Ibn al-Zubayr said, “He claims that he listens to us and obeys.” He then gave him nearly forty thousand coins with which to equip himself, and the man set off.
Partway along the road he was met by Zāʾidah ibn Qudāmah, sent by al-Mukhtār, with five hundred armored horsemen and seventy thousand coins. Al-Mukhtār had already instructed him: “Give him the money; if he turns back, well and good. Otherwise, display the men to him and fight him until he retreats.”
When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān saw that they meant business, he pocketed the money and continued on to Baṣrah. There he and Ibn Muṭīʿ joined the city’s governor, al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Rabīʿah. All of this occurred before the uprising of al-Muthannā ibn Mukhribah, as mentioned earlier, and before the arrival of Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr.
ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān dispatched his cousin ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ḥakam at the head of an army to Wādī al-Qurā in order to seize Madinah from Ibn al-Zubayr’s deputies.
Meanwhile, al-Mukhtār wrote to Ibn al-Zubayr: “If you wish, I can reinforce you with troops,” though his sole intent was to deceive and ensnare him.
Ibn al-Zubayr replied: “If you are indeed obedient to me, I have no objection; so send a contingent to Wādī…"