—together with the head of Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr and the heads of those who were with them—to Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. Ibn al-Zubayr ordered that they be set up on the rise of al-Ḥajūn (1). They had already been mounted in Medina, and al-Mukhtār’s heart now rested content with power, convinced that no enemy or rival remained. Once Ibn al-Zubayr saw through his deception, treachery, and deviant outlook, he appointed his brother Muṣʿab governor over Iraq. They went to Basra and mustered the troops. Al-Mukhtār’s joy was short-lived: Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr marched against him from Basra with a massive army, killed him, severed his head, and ordered that his hand be nailed to the gate of the mosque. Muṣʿab then sent al-Mukhtār’s head with a police officer by express courier (2) to his brother ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr.

The courier reached Mecca after the night prayer and found ʿAbd Allāh engaged in voluntary worship; he kept praying until the pre-dawn hours, never once looking at the messenger who had brought the head. When dawn was near he asked, “What has brought you?” The man handed him the letter, and he read it. The courier said, “Commander of the Believers, the head is still outside.” He replied, “Throw it at the door of the mosque.” The man did so, then returned and said, “My reward, Commander of the Believers.” He answered, “Your reward is the head you brought—take it back with you to Iraq.” (3)

Thus al-Mukhtār’s regime vanished as though it had never existed (4), and the Muslims rejoiced at its fall, for the man was no true believer; he was a liar and a soothsayer who claimed that revelation came to him through Gabriel.

Imām Aḥmad (5) narrated: Ibn Numayr told us; ʿĪsā al-Qārī Abū ʿUmar (6) told us; al-Suddī related to me from Rafāʿah al-Fitiyānī (7), who said: I entered upon al-Mukhtār and he tossed me a cushion, saying, “Had my brother Gabriel not just risen from this, I would have handed it to you.” I wanted to strike his neck, he continued, but I remembered a report my brother ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥamīq had told me, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Any believer who guarantees another believer’s safety with respect to his blood and then kills him—I am free of the killer.”

Imām Aḥmad (8) also narrated: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān told us, from Ḥammād ibn Salamah, who reported to me from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Rafāʿah ibn Shaddād. He said: I used to stand guard over al-Mukhtār; when I realized he was lying, I was about to draw my sword and strike off his head, but I remembered a hadith ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥamīq had related to us. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

“Whoever grants a man security for his life and then kills him will be given the banner of treachery on the Day of Resurrection.”

Al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah (9) recorded it through several chains from