Many more people were also killed that year—so many, in fact, that naming them all would take too long.(1)

Then the year 68 AH began.

In this year ʿAbd Allah reinstated his brother Muṣʿab as governor of Basra. Muṣʿab travelled there and took up residence, leaving al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Rabīʿah al-Makhzūmī, known as Qubāʿ, as his deputy over Kūfa.

ʿAbd Allah likewise appointed Jābir ibn al-Aswad al-Zuhrī over Madinah and dismissed ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ashʿath because he had flogged Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib sixty lashes when the latter refused to pledge allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr. Ibn al-Zubayr therefore removed him from office.(2)

In the same year the Byzantine emperor Constantine, son of Constantine, died in his own land.(3)

Also in this year the battle with the Azāriqa took place. Muṣʿab had removed al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah from the district of Fars—even though al-Muhallab had been routing the Azāriqa there—and reassigned him to the Jazīrah and Azerbaijan.(4) Over Fars he appointed ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Maʿmar. The Kharijites rebelled against him, so ʿUmar engaged them, defeated them, and broke their ranks. Their commander was al-Zubayr ibn al-Māḥūz.(5) They fled before him to Iṣṭakhr, where he pursued them and inflicted a heavy slaughter; during the fighting they killed his son.(6) He later overcame them once more, but they escaped to the region of Isfahan and its surroundings. There they regrouped, their numbers and equipment increasing, and then set out for Basra. On the way they passed through part of Fars, leaving ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Maʿmar behind them.

When Muṣʿab heard of their advance he rode out with the troops, reproaching ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah for letting the rebels cross his territory unopposed. ʿUmar had already mounted in pursuit. News reached the Kharijites that Muṣʿab was ahead of them while ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd Allah was behind. They therefore turned aside toward al-Madāʾin, where they began murdering women and children, ripping open the bellies of pregnant women, and committing atrocities unmatched by anyone else.(7) Muṣʿab therefore marched against them.