for several months. (1)

Musʿab then questioned Umm Thābit bint Samurah ibn Jundab, the wife of al-Mukhtār, about him. She replied, “What could I possibly say about him except what you yourselves say?” He left her and summoned his other wife, ʿAmrah bint al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, and asked, “What do you say about him?” She answered, “May Allah have mercy on him; he was one of Allah’s righteous servants.” Thereupon he imprisoned her and wrote to his brother, reporting that she claimed he was a prophet. His brother wrote back: “Take her outside and kill her.” She was taken beyond the town limits and struck repeatedly until she died. Concerning this, ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿah al-Makhzūmī (2) composed:

“One of the strangest wonders to me
is the slaying of a fair, free woman in her prime, (3)
Cut down like this, though guilty of no crime—
by Allah, what a noble victim!
Slaying and combat have been decreed for us,
while for pampered maidens (4)(5) is the trailing of long hems.”

Abū Mikhnaf (6) reported: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf told me that Musʿab met ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar [ibn al-Khaṭṭāb]. He greeted him, [and Ibn ʿUmar asked, “Who are you?”] “I am your nephew, Musʿab ibn al-Zubayr,” he replied. Ibn ʿUmar said, “Ah yes—you are the one who killed seven thousand of the People of the Qiblah in a single morning? Live as long as you can.” Musʿab responded, “They were unbelieving sorcerers.” Ibn ʿUmar retorted, “By Allah, had you slaughtered the same number (7) of sheep from your father’s estate, it would still have been wasteful.”

This is the biographical entry of al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī. (8)

He is al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd ibn Masʿūd ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUmayr ibn ʿAwf ibn ʿAqdah (9) ibn ʿAnazah (10) ibn ʿAwf ibn Thaqīf al-Thaqafī. His father embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—but never met him; for that reason most scholars do not list him among the Companions, but only