what the men were doing, he gathered those who still followed him and went off to Kūfah, where its inhabitants pledged allegiance to him. After that came the Battle of Dayr al-Jamājim in Shaʿbān of this same year.

The Battle of Dayr al-Jamājim (1)

Al-Wāqidī said:
When Ibn al-Ashʿath made for Kūfah, its people went out to meet him, surrounded him on every side, and entered the city ahead of him. Only a small band wished to fight on behalf of Maṭar ibn Nājah, al-Ḥajjāj’s deputy, but he would not let them; instead, they withdrew to the citadel. When Ibn al-Ashʿath reached Kūfah he ordered ladders to be set against the governor’s palace, seized it, brought Maṭar ibn Nājah down, and meant to kill him. Maṭar said, “Spare me, for I am better than any of your horsemen.” (2) Ibn al-Ashʿath imprisoned him, then later summoned him, released him, and accepted his pledge of allegiance.

The affairs of Kūfah now stood firmly with Ibn al-Ashʿath, and those who had come from Basra rallied to him. Among them was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Ibn al-Ashʿath posted detachments on every front, secured the frontiers, the outlying posts, and the roads.

Al-Ḥajjāj mounted with the Syrian troops who were with him and set out from Basra overland, passing between al-Qādisiyyah and al-ʿAdhīb. Ibn al-Ashʿath dispatched ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAbbās at the head of a great cavalry force drawn from both garrison cities, and they barred al-Ḥajjāj from encamping at al-Qādisiyyah. Al-Ḥajjāj therefore pressed on until he halted at Dayr Qurra, while Ibn al-Ashʿath, with the Basran and Kufan armies at his side, encamped at Dayr al-Jamājim. He had with him vast forces, including the Qur’an reciters from both garrisons and a host of the righteous.

Al-Ḥajjāj would later say, “May Allah fight Ibn al-Ashʿath! Could he not have taken an omen from the birds when he saw that I was encamped at Dayr Qurra and he at Dayr al-Jamājim?”

Those gathered under Ibn al-Ashʿath numbered one hundred thousand stipendiary soldiers, together with an equal number of their clients. Al-Ḥajjāj, for his part, received numerous reinforcements from Syria, dispatched by the Commander of the Faithful ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān. Each of the two armies dug a trench around itself, using it as a barrier, yet every day detachments would sally forth, meet one another, and fight fiercely. Many leading men of Quraysh and others were killed, and this situation dragged on for a long time.

The advisers and commanders then gathered around ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān and said, “If dismissing al-Ḥajjāj will satisfy the people of Iraq, that is easier than fighting them and shedding their blood.” ʿAbd al-Malik therefore summoned his brother Muḥammad ibn Marwān and his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, each at the head of very large forces, and sent with them a letter addressed to the people of Iraq, saying: “If it will please you that I remove al-Ḥajjāj from over you, I shall depose him, grant you stipends equal to those of the Syrians, allow Ibn al-Ashʿath to choose whatever province he wishes to govern for as long as both he and I live, and appoint Muḥammad ibn Marwān over Iraq.

“The decree further states: If the people of Iraq do not accept this, al-Ḥajjāj remains as he is, with command of the war, and Muḥammad ibn Marwān and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Malik are subject to his authority and shall not depart from his counsel in war or otherwise.”