but only—yet Ibn al-Athīr does list him in al-Ghābah (1). ʿUmar had dispatched him at the head of a large army against the Persians in the year 13 AH; on that day he fell as a martyr, and about four thousand Muslims were slain with him, as noted earlier. The bridge was thereafter named after him—an overpass across the Tigris still called the Bridge of Abū ʿUbayd to this day.
He left a daughter, Ṣafiyyah bint Abī ʿUbayd, a devout and upright worshipper. She was the wife of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who honored and loved her dearly; she died during his lifetime.
As for her brother, al-Mukhtār, he was at first a nasibī, harboring intense hatred for ʿAlī. He was living with his uncle in al-Madāʾin, where the uncle served as governor. When al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī entered the city on the day the Iraqis stabbed him while he was marching to Syria to fight Muʿāwiyah after his father’s murder—and when al-Ḥasan sensed their treachery, he fled from them to al-Madāʾin with only a small contingent (2)—al-Mukhtār said to his uncle, “Were you to seize al-Ḥasan and send him to Muʿāwiyah, you would win everlasting favor with him.” His uncle replied, “What a vile thing you suggest, nephew!” Hence the Shīʿah continued to detest al-Mukhtār until the episode of Muslim ibn ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib.
At that time al-Mukhtār was one of the commanders in Kūfah and constantly declared, “By Allah, I shall surely aid him!” News of this reached Ibn Ziyād, who had him flogged one hundred lashes and then imprisoned. Al-Mukhtār’s sister appealed to her husband, who wrote to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah interceding for him; Yazīd sent orders to Ibn Ziyād to release him. Ibn Ziyād complied and banished him to the Ḥijāz in nothing but a coarse cloak.
Al-Mukhtār made his way to Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca and fought fiercely at his side when Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr (3) besieged him. Later, hearing the confused rumors people in Iraq were circulating about him, he set out for them and left Ibn al-Zubayr. It is said that he asked Ibn al-Zubayr for a letter to Ibn Mutīʿ, the governor of Kūfah; the request was granted, and al-Mukhtār proceeded to the city. Publicly he praised Ibn al-Zubayr, but privately he reviled him, while extolling Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah and summoning people to pledge allegiance to him.
Persisting in this course, he gained control of Kūfah under the banner of Shīʿism and by openly claiming to avenge al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. Large numbers of the Shīʿah consequently rallied to him. He expelled Ibn al-Zubayr’s governor, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mutīʿ, and al-Mukhtār’s rule in the city became firmly established.
He then wrote to Ibn al-Zubayr apologizing, stating that Ibn Mutīʿ had been currying favor with the Umayyads, that he had left Kūfah, and that both he and the city’s inhabitants remained loyal to Ibn al-Zubayr. Ibn al-Zubayr believed him, for al-Mukhtār would invoke blessings for him from the Friday pulpit before the public and profess obedience.
Al-Mukhtār next set about pursuing the killers of al-Ḥusayn and everyone present at Karbalāʾ on Ibn Ziyād’s side. He slew a great many of them and secured the heads of several leading figures—ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, the overall commander; Shimar ibn Dhī al-Jawshan, leader of the thousand who carried out the killing; Sinān ibn Abī Anas; Khawli ibn Yazīd al-Aṣbaḥī; and many others.
Still not satisfied, he dispatched his avenger, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashter, with twenty thousand men against ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, who commanded a force many times larger—sixty, some say eighty, thousand. Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashter killed Ibn Ziyād, shattered his army, and captured their camp. This occurred on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ in 67 AH, as mentioned earlier. He then sent Ibn Ziyād’s head—and the heads of his companions—to al-Mukhtār, who rejoiced exceedingly. Afterward al-Mukhtār sent Ibn Ziyād’s head