In this same year ʿAbd al-Malik removed Bukayr ibn Wishāḥ al-Tamīmī from the governorship of Khurasan and appointed Umayyah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Khālid ibn Asīd al-Qurashī in his stead, so that the people might unite behind him, for sedition in Khurasan had almost flared up again after ʿAbd Allah ibn Khāzim. When Umayyah arrived in Khurasan he offered Bukayr ibn Wishāḥ command of the shurṭah (security forces), but Bukayr refused and asked instead to be made governor of Tukhāristān. Fearing that he might depose him once he was established there, Umayyah kept him close and allowed him to remain in his company.
Ibn Jarīr said: During that year al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf led the people in the pilgrimage while he was governor of Medina, Mecca, Yemen, and al-Yamāmah. Ibn Jarīr (1) also remarked: “It is reported that ʿAbd al-Malik performed ʿumrah in this same year, but we do not know how sound that report is.”
Mention of those of note who died in that year
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Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj ibn Rāfiʿ al-Anṣārī (2), a venerable Companion who fought at Uḥud and every battle thereafter—he also took part in Ṣiffīn alongside ʿAlī and was engaged in agriculture and farming (3). He died at the age of eighty-six, having transmitted seventy-eight hadiths (4), all of them sound. At the Battle of Uḥud an arrow struck his collar-bone; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave him the choice between having it removed or leaving the quṭbah (arrowhead) in place so that it would testify for him on the Day of Resurrection (5). He chose to leave it; the wound reopened in this year and he died from its effects—may Allah be pleased with him.
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Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (6)—his name was Saʿd ibn Mālik ibn Sinān al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī—was an eminent Companion and one of the jurists among them. Considered too young to fight at Uḥud, his first engagement was the Battle of the Trench; thereafter he took part in twelve expeditions with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He narrated many hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ and from several Companions, and a multitude of Successors and Companions in turn related traditions from him. He ranked among the distinguished, virtuous, and learned men of the Companions.
Al-Wāqidī and others said that he died in 74 AH, though another opinion places his death ten years earlier; Allah knows best.