the dīwān, the treasury of the caliphate, this fund and that—yet you handed him one hundred thousand!’
Muʿāwiya replied, ‘Woe to you! What else am I to do with Ibn al-Zubayr?’ (1)

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: ʿUmar ibn Bukayr related to me, from ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid ibn ʿUrwa, who said:
Ibn al-Zubayr once asked Muʿāwiya for something and he refused. Ibn al-Zubayr said, ‘By Allah, it is not ignorance that would make me stand by this Sacred House, insulting your honour or tearing down your lineage. Rather, I will let my turban hang a cubit before me and a cubit behind me as I walk among the people of Syria, recounting the conduct of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and ʿUmar. The people will ask, “Who is that man?” and it will be said, “The son of the ḥawārī (disciple) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the grandson of al-Ṣiddīq.”’
Muʿāwiya said, ‘That alone is honour enough for you. Now state your needs.’ (2)

Al-Aṣmaʿī said: Ghassān ibn Muḍar narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Yazīd:
Ibn al-Zubayr entered upon Muʿāwiya, who ordered his small son to strike him a blow that made his head reel. When Ibn al-Zubayr recovered, he said to the boy, ‘Come here.’ The boy came close. He said, ‘Strike Muʿāwiya.’ The boy replied, ‘I will not.’
‘Why not?’ he asked.
‘Because he is my father,’ the boy answered.
So Ibn al-Zubayr raised his hand and struck the child a blow that sent him spinning like a top.
Muʿāwiya said, ‘You do this to a youngster on whom the legal rulings have not yet taken effect?’
He replied, ‘By Allah, he already knows what harms him from what benefits him, and I wished to perfect his discipline.’ (3)

Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Madāʾinī related, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr:
Ibn al-Zubayr caught up with Muʿāwiya while he was travelling to Syria and found him dozing on his mount. He said, ‘You fall asleep while I am with you? Are you not afraid that I might kill you?’
Muʿāwiya answered, ‘You are not one who kills kings; every bird hunts prey equal to itself.’
Ibn al-Zubayr said, ‘I marched beneath my father’s banner against ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and you know what stature he had.’
Muʿāwiya replied, ‘Indeed, by Allah, he killed you with his left hand.’
Ibn al-Zubayr said, ‘That was in support of ʿUthmān, and it went no further.’
Muʿāwiya said, ‘It was only out of hatred for ʿAlī, not out of love for ʿUthmān.’
Ibn al-Zubayr responded, ‘We have pledged you our word, and we shall keep it so long as you live; those who come after you will see.’
Muʿāwiya said, ‘By Allah, I fear only for you yourself. I can almost see you caught in the snare, the noose tightened around you; then you will remember me and say, “Would that Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān were here—would that, by Allah, it were him!” By Allah, I would loosen it for you gently, set you free swiftly; but what a wretched guardian you would find me at that hour.’ (4) Abū ʿAbd Allāh reported something similar.

As noted earlier, when Muʿāwiya died and the oath of allegiance to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya reached Madinah, Ibn al-Zubayr and al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī slipped away to Makkah and remained there. Al-Ḥusayn then proceeded to Iraq, where the story of his martyrdom has already been told, while Ibn al-Zubayr was left alone with leadership and distinction in Makkah. For that reason Ibn ʿAbbās used to recite after al-Ḥusayn’s departure: