noblemen from Kufah and kept them under guard until they would give him their pledge. They, however, refused to pledge allegiance except to one upon whom the whole ummah was united. He therefore threatened and intimidated them, confining them in the area of Zamzam. From there they wrote to al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd, appealing for rescue and saying:
“Indeed, Ibn al-Zubayr has threatened us with killing and with fire. Do not abandon us as you abandoned al-Ḥusayn and his family.”

Al-Mukhtār gathered the Shīʿah, read the letter aloud, and said: “This is your Mahdī (1), the one whose cry for help comes from the Prophet’s Household. They have awoken besieged, awaiting slaughter and the torch. By Allah, I am no Abū Isḥāq if I do not grant you a decisive victory, and if I do not send to them cavalry like a flood—one torrent after another—until ruin descends upon the son of al-Kāhiliyyah!”

He then dispatched Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Jadalī with seventy mounted men of proven strength; Ẓabiyān ibn ʿUmar (2) al-Taymī with four hundred; Abū al-Muʿtamir with one hundred; Hāniʾ ibn Qays with one hundred; ʿUmayr ibn Ṭāriq with forty; and [Fāris ibn ʿImrān with forty] (3). He also wrote to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, sending the letter with al-Ṭufayl ibn ʿĀmir to inform him that troops were coming to his aid.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Jadalī halted at Dhāt ʿIrq, where roughly one hundred and fifty additional horsemen joined him. He then advanced until, openly by day, he entered the Sacred Mosque while his men kept shouting, “Vengeance for Ḥusayn!”

Ibn al-Zubayr had already stacked firewood for Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah and his companions, intending to burn them if they did not pledge allegiance, and only two days of his deadline remained. Al-Mukhtār’s men went to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, released him from confinement, and said, “If you permit us, we will fight Ibn al-Zubayr.”

He replied, “I do not consider fighting permissible inside the Sacred Mosque.”

Ibn al-Zubayr retorted, “We will not leave, and neither will you, until he pledges allegiance and you do so with him.”

They refused, and just then the rest of their comrades arrived, entering the sanctuary while chanting, “Vengeance for Ḥusayn!” When Ibn al-Zubayr saw this, he became afraid of them and desisted. They then took Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah with them, seized a large sum of money from the pilgrims, and moved on until they entered the Ravine of ʿAlī. Four thousand men gathered around him, and he distributed that wealth among them.

This is how Ibn Jarīr records the event, though its authenticity is open to question; Allah knows best.

Ibn Jarīr continues: That same year the pilgrimage was led by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. His deputy in Madinah was his brother Muṣʿab; over Basrah he appointed al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Rabīʿah; over Syria, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; over the Jazīrah and Armenia, his brother Muḥammad ibn Marwān; and over Egypt, his brother ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (4). By this time al-Mukhtār had seized control of Kufah, while ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khāzim held Khurasan—battles involving him there are recounted at length.

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Ibn Jarīr further says (5): In this very year Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashtar set out against ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, when eight days of Dhuʾl-Ḥijjah remained.