Banu Shaybah. Then they would regroup and attack him, and he would charge them anew—he did so time after time—killing a number of them that day while proclaiming, “Take it! I am the son of the disciple.”
Someone said to Ibn al-Zubayr, “Will you not speak to them about reaching a truce?” He replied, “By Allah, if they were to find you inside the very Kaʿbah they would slaughter you all. By Allah, I will never ask them for a treaty.”
More than one narrator relates that when the catapult was set in motion, lightning, flashes, and thunderclaps arose until their roar drowned out the sound of the catapult itself. A bolt struck and killed twelve men from among the Syrians, and their hearts faltered at the thought of continuing the siege. Al-Hajjaj, however, kept encouraging them, saying, “I know this land well—these are only the lightning, thunder, and bolts of Tihamah, and the enemy is struck by the same as you.” The following day another bolt descended and killed a large group of Ibn al-Zubayr’s supporters as well, whereupon al-Hajjaj kept repeating, “Did I not tell you they are afflicted just as you are? You are on the side of obedience, while they are in rebellion.”
The Syrian troops chanted as they hurled their stones:
“A darting shot, like a foaming camel,
we hurl it at the beams of this mosque.” (1)
A lightning bolt then struck the catapult itself and burned it. The Syrians ceased their bombardment and the siege, so al-Hajjaj addressed them: “Woe to you! Do you not know that fire used to descend upon those before us and consume their offering when it was accepted? [Had your deed not been accepted, the fire would not have come down and consumed it.]” They thereupon resumed the siege.
The people of Mecca kept coming out to al-Hajjaj seeking safe-conduct and slipping away from (2) Ibn al-Zubayr until nearly ten thousand had gone over to him. Al-Hajjaj guaranteed their safety, and the ranks around Ibn al-Zubayr diminished. Even Hamzah and Khubayb, the two sons of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, went out to al-Hajjaj and secured protection for themselves, which he granted.
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr then entered upon his mother and complained that the people had deserted him for al-Hajjaj—even his own children and kinsfolk—so that only a few remained with him who could not endure for another hour, while the enemy was offering him whatever worldly goods he desired. “What is your view?” he asked her.
She replied, “My son, you know yourself best. If you are certain you are upon the truth and calling to the truth, then persevere—for your companions have been killed for that very cause—and do not surrender your neck to be toyed with by the youths of Banu Umayyah. But if you sought only this world, what a wretch you are! You have ruined yourself and ruined those who were slain with you. And if you are upon the truth, has the religion ever been weakened? How long will you remain in this world? Dying is better.”
He drew near, kissed her head, and said, “By Allah, this is exactly my own view. By Allah, I have never inclined toward the world nor loved life within it. Nothing compelled me to rise except anger for Allah’s sake when His sanctuary was violated. I only wished to know your opinion, and you have added insight to my insight. Now listen, Mother: today I shall be killed; do not let your grief become intense, and submit to Allah’s decree. Your son has never deliberately committed a wrongdoing, never perpetrated an indecency, never transgressed in Allah’s judgment, never broken a pledge, and never intentionally wronged a Muslim…"