al-Qurā so that they may serve as reinforcements for us against the Syrian forces.

Al-Mukhtār therefore outfitted three thousand men under the command of Shuraḥbīl ibn Wars al-Hamadānī, of whom only seven hundred were Arabs. He instructed him: “March until you enter Madinah; once you are inside, write to me so that I may send you my orders.” What al-Mukhtār actually intended was to seize Madinah from Ibn al-Zubayr and then move on to Makkah to besiege him there.

Ibn al-Zubayr, fearing that al-Mukhtār had dispatched this force as a stratagem, sent al-ʿAbbās ibn Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Sāʿidī with two thousand men, commanding him to seek assistance from the Bedouins. He said, “If you find them obedient to me, good; otherwise, deceive them until you destroy them.”

Al-ʿAbbās advanced until he encountered Ibn Wars at al-Raqīm, where Ibn Wars had halted with his army beside a watering place. Al-ʿAbbās asked, “Are you not under the authority of Ibn al-Zubayr?” He answered, “Indeed.” Al-ʿAbbās continued, “He has ordered me to proceed to Wādī al-Qurā and fight the Syrians stationed there.” Ibn Wars replied, “I have not been ordered to obey you. My only instructions are to enter Madinah and then write to my commander, who will direct me as he wishes.” Al-ʿAbbās understood his motive but did not reveal that he had grasped it, and said, “Your view is better; act as you think best.”

He then withdrew and sent them butchered camels, sheep, and flour—for they were badly in need of supplies and were suffering hunger. They began slaughtering, cooking, baking, and eating at that watering place. When night fell, al-ʿAbbās ibn Sahl launched a surprise attack on them, killing their commander and about seventy of their men, capturing many others and putting most of the captives to death. Only a few returned [to al-Mukhtār] and to their homelands in disappointment.

Abū Mikhnaf said: Abū Yūsuf related to me that al-ʿAbbās ibn Sahl approached them reciting:
I am Sahl’s son, a rider who never tires,
A terror, foremost when warriors recoil;
With my sword I cleave the tall hero’s crown
On the day of dread until he lies slain. (1)

When news of this reached al-Mukhtār, he rose to address his followers and said, “The wicked sinners have slain the righteous and virtuous, yet this was a matter already decreed and a judgment foreordained.”

He then wrote to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, sending the letter with Ṣāliḥ ibn Masʿūd al-Khathʿamī. In it he stated that he had dispatched an army to Madinah to support him but that Ibn al-Zubayr’s troops had betrayed them. “If you think it advisable that I send another army to Madinah,” he wrote, “and that you, on your side, dispatch envoys to them, then do so.”

Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah wrote back: “To proceed: of all matters, the one I love most is that in which Allah is obeyed. So obey Allah in what you make public and what you conceal. Know that were I to desire fighting, the people would hasten to me and many supporters would rally to my side. However, I withdraw from them and remain patient until Allah judges for me, and He is the best of judges.”

He also said to Ṣāliḥ ibn Masʿūd: “Tell al-Mukhtār to fear Allah and desist from shedding blood.”

When Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah’s letter reached him, al-Mukhtār said, “I have been commanded to gather righteousness and ease, and to cast aside disbelief and treachery.” (2)

Ibn Jarīr reports (3), on the authority of al-Madāʾinī and Abū Mikhnaf, that Ibn al-Zubayr seized Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah along with seventeen