in the land of Upper Mesopotamia, whereas the courier had said that the clash took place at al-Khāzir in the district of Mosul. He retorted, “By Allah, O Shaʿbī, you will not believe until you behold the painful chastisement!” Thereafter al-Mukhtār returned to Kūfah.

During his absence, a group of men who had fought against him at Jabbānat al-Sabīʿ and al-Kanāsa managed to slip away in order to join Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr; among them was Shabath ibn Ribʿī. Ibn al-Ashṭar, meanwhile, sent the glad tidings together with the head of ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād, appointed a deputy governor over Naṣībīn, and remained in those regions. He dispatched officials to Mosul and took control of Sinjār, Dārā, and the surrounding parts of Upper Mesopotamia.

Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim said: “ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād was slain on ʿĀshūrāʾ in the year 66 AH, though the correct date is 67 AH.”

Suraqah ibn Mirdās al-Bāriqī composed the following ode in praise of Ibn al-Ashṭar for killing Ibn Ziyād:

A youth from the noble stock of Madhḥij has come to you—
Bold before the foe, never prone to retreat.
So, son of Ziyād, bear the greatest loss (1),
And taste the edge of two keen, polished blades!
We struck you with the razor-sharp sword in full force,
Avenging one slain (2) with another felled.
May Allah reward the Shurṭat Allah well, for they
Yesterday cooled my burning rage at ʿUbayd Allah.

[Biographical notice of Ibn Ziyād]

He is ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād ibn ʿUbayd, commonly known as Ibn Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān. He was also called Ziyād ibn Abīhi and Ibn Sumayyah, and he governed Iraq after his father Ziyād. Ibn Maʿīn said: He was likewise known as ʿUbayd Allah ibn Marjānah—this being his mother. Others say she was a Magian. His kunyah was Abū Ḥafṣ. After the death of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah (3) he settled in Damascus, owning a house near the Dimās (4) that was later called the residence of Ibn ʿAjlān. He was born in 39 AH, according to what Ibn ʿAsākir cites from Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Yūnus al-Ḍabbī. Ibn ʿAsākir (5) also reports that he narrated hadith from Muʿāwiyah, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, and Maʿqil ibn Yasār, while al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Abū al-Malīḥ ibn Usāmah transmitted from him.

Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn said: “They relate that when ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād killed al-Ḥusayn he was twenty-eight years old.” I add: on that basis his birth would have been in 33 AH—Allah knows best.

Ibn ʿAsākir also narrated that Muʿāwiyah wrote to Ziyād, saying, “Send your son to me.” When the youth arrived, Muʿāwiyah questioned him on every matter and found him competent until he asked him about poetry, at which point the youth knew nothing. Muʿāwiyah said, “What has kept you from learning poetry?” He replied, “O Commander of the Believers, I was loath to combine in my heart the speech of Allah with the speech of Satan.” Muʿāwiyah then said—