Khalifah (1) said: He died in the year 82 AH.

Khalifah also said: In that same year Zur ibn Hubaysh (2), one of the companions of Ibn Masʿūd and ʿĀʾishah, passed away at the age of one hundred and twenty.

Abū ʿUbayd stated that he died in 81 AH, and his biographical notice has already been presented (3).

Shaqīq ibn Salamah (4), known by his kunya Abū Wāʾil, lived seven years of the pre-Islamic era and embraced Islam during the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime.

Umm al-Dardāʾ the Younger (5)—her name was Hujaymah, though some say Juhaymah—was a Successor renowned for devotion, knowledge, and juristic insight. Men would recite the Quran to her and study jurisprudence with her in the northern portico of the Great Mosque of Damascus. Even ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān used to sit in her study circle with the other scholars, occupying himself with her lessons while he was the caliph—may Allah be pleased with them.

[Then the year 83 AH began.]

The year opened with the two sides arrayed for battle: al-Ḥajjāj and his forces at Dayr Qurrah, and Ibn al-Ashʿath and his men at Dayr al-Jamājim. Each day brought single combats between them, and on most days the Iraqis had the upper hand over the Syrians—it was even said that Ibn al-Ashʿath’s troops, all Iraqis, routed al-Ḥajjāj’s Syrian army some eighty-odd times, winning the day against them (6). Yet al-Ḥajjāj held his ground, steadfast and resolute, never abandoning his post. Whenever he happened to gain the advantage on a given day, he would advance with his army toward the enemy, gather the archers from his ranks, and charge. He and they continued in this manner until he ordered an attack on the battalion of the qurraʾ (Quran reciters), for the people followed them—they were the ones urging the troops on, and the masses took them as models. The qurraʾ bore the onslaught of his army with patience and did not yield until they were slain.