and Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAdī ⦗5⦘, the officer in charge of the dīwān, brought him inside, into one of its rooms, and kept him there under guard. A tremendous commotion erupted in the mosque and the voices rose in uproar.

When ʿAbd al-Malik returned, he saw that his brother had not killed him; he rebuked him and hurled insults at him and at his mother—although the mother of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was not the mother of ʿAbd al-Malik ⦗1⦘. ʿAmr said to him, “I implore you by Allah and by the bond of kinship,” for he was the son of one of ʿAbd al-Malik’s paternal aunts.

ʿAbd al-Malik then said, “Boy, bring me the spear.” The page brought it; he brandished it and struck him, but it did not pierce. He struck a second time, yet it did no more. Placing his hand on ʿAmr’s arm and feeling the mail beneath, he laughed and said, “Armor as well? You certainly came prepared! Boy, bring me al-Ṣamṣāmah ⦗2⦘.”

The page brought him his sword. He ordered that ʿAmr be thrown down, then sat on his chest and slit his throat, reciting:

“O ʿAmr, unless you cease abusing and slighting me,
I shall strike you till the very skull cries, ‘Give me water!’ ⦗3⦘ ⦗4⦘”

They said that after killing him, ʿAbd al-Malik shook like a reed lashed by a violent tremor, so that they could only lift him off ʿAmr by carrying him. They laid him on his couch while he kept saying, “I have never seen anything like this; he was killed by a man who cares for neither this world nor the next.” ⦗5⦘

He handed the head to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Umm al-Ḥakam, who went out to the people and flung it among them. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān then emerged with loads of money; it was scattered among the crowd and they began grabbing it. It is said that the money was later recovered from them and returned to the bayt al-māl (public treasury).

Another report states that the one who actually carried out the killing of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd was Abū al-Zuʿayziʿah, a client of ʿAbd al-Malik, after the latter had gone out to the prayer; Allah knows best.

Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd—ʿAmr’s brother—entered the governor’s residence with his followers after his brother’s death. The sons of Marwān confronted them and fighting broke out; many on both sides were wounded, and a stone struck Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd on the head, distracting him from himself [and from the battle].

Subsequently, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān went to the congregational mosque, ascended the pulpit and began to call out, “Woe to you! Where is al-Walīd? By their father, if they have killed him they have taken their revenge!” Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAdī ⦗6⦘ al-Kinānī came to him and said, “Al-Walīd is with me; he has been wounded, but he is all right.”

ʿAbd al-Malik then ordered that Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd be executed, but his brother ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān interceded for him—as well as for several others whom ʿAbd al-Malik had likewise commanded to be killed that day. He accepted the intercession, ordered them imprisoned instead, and they remained in confinement for a month. He then sent Yaḥyā, the sons of ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd, and their families to Iraq, where they presented themselves to Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr, who received them honourably and treated them well.