[Then came the year 82 AH]

In Muḥarram of that year the Battle of al-Zāwiyah (1) took place between Ibn al-Ashʿath and al-Ḥajjāj toward the month’s end. On the first day victory rested with the Iraqis over the Syrians. They met again the next day, and Sufyān ibn al-Abraḍ, one of the Syrian commanders, charged the right wing of Ibn al-Ashʿath, routed it, and on that day killed a great many of the Qur’an reciters in Ibn al-Ashʿath’s ranks.

Al-Ḥajjāj thereupon fell prostrate to Allah; moments before he had been on his knees with part of his sword drawn, invoking mercy for Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr and saying, “How noble he was, that he steeled himself for death.” Among those slain on Ibn al-Ashʿath’s side was al-Tufayl ibn ʿĀmir ibn Wāthilah (2) al-Laythī.

When his troops scattered, Ibn al-Ashʿath withdrew with the remnant of his men and those Basrans who had joined him. He marched until he reached Kūfah, while the people of Basra rallied to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAbbās (3) ibn Rabīʿah ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib and gave him their pledge of allegiance. Al-Ḥajjāj fought that new contender for five nights of ferocious battle, then disengaged and rejoined Ibn al-Ashʿath, a contingent of Basrans accompanying him. He left Ayyūb ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl as his deputy over Basra.

Ibn al-Ashʿath entered Kūfah, and its people pledged allegiance to him on the basis of deposing al-Ḥajjāj and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān. The situation spiraled: Ibn al-Ashʿath’s supporters multiplied, the crisis intensified, unity crumbled, the calamity grew immense, and the rent gaped wider than any mender could patch.

Al-Wāqidī relates: When al-Ḥajjāj’s army and Ibn al-Ashʿath’s army met at al-Zāwiyah, the troops of al-Ḥajjāj charged them again and again. The Qur’an reciters—whose commander was Jabila ibn Zaḥr—called out, “People, no flight is uglier than yours; fight for your religion and your worldly life!” Saʿīd ibn Jubayr voiced similar words.

Al-Shaʿbī said, “Fight them because of their injustice, their subjugation of the weak, and their abandonment of the prayer.” The Qur’an reciters—the scholars—then launched a true assault against al-Ḥajjāj’s army, broke through their lines, and withdrew, only to find their vanguard, Jabila ibn Zaḥr, lying slain. Their spirits collapsed, and al-Ḥajjāj’s soldiers shouted, “Enemies of Allah, we have killed your tyrant!”

Sufyān ibn al-Abraḍ—commanding al-Ḥajjāj’s cavalry—next charged the left wing of Ibn al-Ashʿath, led by al-Abrad ibn Murrah (4) al-Tamīmī. That wing fled without serious resistance, and the people found their conduct disgraceful. Its commander, al-Abrad, was a valiant man who never ran; they therefore suspected him of treachery. The ranks disintegrated, men rode over one another, and Ibn al-Ashʿath kept urging the fighters on—yet when he saw