and a small band (1) of valiant, resolute men. With them he kept on fighting the Turks until most of the Muslims were wiped out—may Allah be pleased with her. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we return.

They say that on that day Shurayḥ ibn Hāniʾ began to chant rajaz verse, reciting:

This morning I am a man of plaintive grief who wrestles with old age;
For many a season I have lived among the idol-worshippers.
Then I attained the Prophet, the Warner,
And after him his truthful friend and ʿUmar. (2)
The day of Mihrān, the day of Tustar,
The mustering at their Ṣiffīn and the river-fight— (3)
Alas, how long this life has dragged on!

He fought on until he was slain—may Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him—and a multitude of his companions were killed with him. The survivors withdrew with ʿUbayd Allah ibn Abī Bakrah from the land of Rutbīl, but they were few. When the news reached al-Ḥajjāj he took them to task for everything, past and present, and wrote to ʿAbd al-Malik to inform him and to consult him about sending a large army to Rutbīl’s territory so that they might avenge the Muslims for what they had suffered there. As soon as the courier reached ʿAbd al-Malik, he wrote back to al-Ḥajjāj approving whatever he deemed beneficial in that regard [and urging him to expedite the matter. Once the dispatch arrived, al-Ḥajjāj began mustering the troops and prepared a sizeable force for the campaign, the details of which will be given under the following year].

[It is related that thirty thousand Muslims were killed alongside Shurayḥ ibn Hāniʾ, that a single loaf of bread among them sold for a dinar, and that they endured severe hardships; many also died of hunger—truly we belong to Allah and to Him we return. The Muslims, however, slew a vast number of Turks, killing several times their own losses] (4).

It is also said that in this same year Shurayḥ resigned from the judgeship and al-Ḥajjāj accepted his resignation, appointing in his place Abū Burdah ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī (5). [Shurayḥ’s biography was given earlier under the year of his death, and Allah knows best.]

Al-Wāqidī, Abū Maʿshar, and a number of other historians state that the pilgrimage that year was led by Abān ibn ʿUthmān, the governor of the Prophet’s city—upon its inhabitant be the best blessings and peace.

In this year as well Qaṭarī ibn al-Fujāʾah al-Tamīmī, Abū Nuʿāmah the Kharijite (6), was killed. He, too, was among the celebrated warriors, and it is said that for twenty years his fellow Kharijites greeted him as “Commander of the Faithful.” He endured many trials and fought numerous battles against the army of al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah under al-Ḥajjāj and others; we have already presented a fair portion of those events in their proper places.