• Abd Allah ibn Hammam (1), Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sululi, was among the eloquent poets. After previously lampooning Yazid ibn Muawiyah, he later praised him (2) in the following verses:
“We have drunk down our rage until, were we made to drink
the very blood of the sons of Umayyah, our thirst would still not be slaked;
And if they brought forth Ramlah or Hind,
we would nevertheless pledge allegiance to the Commander of the Believers.”
[Then the year seventy-three began]
In that year Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed at the hands of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, the ruthless destroyer—may Allah disfigure him and cast him low.
Al-Waqidi (3) said: Musab ibn Thabit related to me, from Nafiʿ, the freedman of Banu Asad—who was well-versed in the events surrounding Ibn al-Zubayr—who said:
“Ibn al-Zubayr was besieged on the night of the new moon of Dhu al-Qadah (4) in the year seventy-two, and he was killed on the seventeenth night of Jumada al-Ula in the year seventy-three; thus al-Hajjaj’s siege lasted eight (5) months and seventeen nights.”
We have already mentioned that al-Hajjaj led the people in the pilgrimage during that irregular year. Ibn Umar was among the pilgrims, and Abd al-Malik had written to al-Hajjaj instructing him to follow Ibn Umar in the rites, as is recorded in the two Sahih collections (6).
When this year dawned, the Syrian forces were laying siege to the people of Mecca. Al-Hajjaj had set up a catapult against the city to compel its inhabitants to come out in safety and submit to Abd al-Malik. A contingent that had come to him from the land of Abyssinia was with him; they hurled their projectiles with deadly accuracy, killing a great many people. He possessed five catapults and kept up an incessant bombardment from every direction. He also cut off their provisions and water, so they had only the water of Zamzam to drink, while stones were even falling into the Kaʿbah itself.
Al-Hajjaj kept calling out to his men, “People of Syria, fear Allah, fear Allah, and remain obedient!” They would then charge Ibn al-Zubayr so fiercely that it was said they had seized him in that extreme hardship (7); but Ibn al-Zubayr would spring upon them—though no one was at his side—and drive them out through the Gate of Banu