nor any non-Muslim living under a covenant; no report ever reached me of an official’s injustice that I then condoned—on the contrary, I repudiated it—and nothing has ever been dearer to me than the good pleasure of my Lord, Mighty and Exalted. O Allah, I do not say this to commend myself; You know me [better than I know myself or than anyone else knows me]. I only say it to console my mother so that her grief over me may lessen.”

His mother said, “I hope in Allah that my consolation in you will be beautiful, whether you precede me in death or I precede you. What is in my breast is settled. Go forth, my son, and let me see how your affair ends.”

He replied, “May Allah reward you, Mother, with goodness. Do not cease praying—before and after.”

She said, “I will never cease—some are killed on falsehood, but you have been killed on the truth.”

Then she supplicated: “O Allah, have mercy on those long nights of standing in prayer, on that weeping, and on that thirst in the scorching noontimes of Madinah and Mecca; have mercy on his dutifulness toward his father and toward me. O Allah, I have surrendered him to Your decree and I am content with what You have decided. Recompense me for ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr with the reward of those who are patient and grateful.”

She then said to him, “Come close so that I may bid you farewell.” He drew near and kissed her (1). She pulled him to her, embraced him to bid him farewell, and he embraced her—for in her last years she had gone blind. Finding him clad in a coat of mail, she said, “My son, this is not the garb of one who seeks what you seek—martyrdom!” He answered, “Mother, I only put it on to soothe your heart and calm your mind.” She said, “No, my son—take it off.” So he removed it and proceeded to don the rest of his clothes, tightening them as she kept urging, “Gather up your garments.” He took care to secure the lower part of his attire lest his nakedness be exposed when he was killed. She began reminding him of his father al-Zubayr, his grandfather Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, his grandmother Ṣafiyyah bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, [and his aunt ʿĀʾishah, the wife of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him], and she encouraged him with the hope of meeting them when he was martyred. He then left her, and that was the last time he ever saw her—may Allah be pleased with him, with his father, and with her father.

She said to him, “Proceed with clear insight.”

He bade her farewell and went out, reciting:
“I will not barter life for disgrace,
Nor climb a ladder in fear of death.” (2)

They relate that he would emerge from a gate of the Sacred Mosque where five hundred horsemen and foot soldiers were stationed; he would charge them and they would scatter right and left, none able to withstand him, while he chanted:
“Indeed, when I know my appointed day I persevere;
Some men know it—and then deny it.” (3)