—killing a great many of them—then he turned upon Ibn al-Ashʿath’s army and the troops with him; Ibn al-Ashʿath’s men broke ranks and scattered in every direction. Ibn al-Ashʿath himself fled before them with only a small remnant of followers. Al-Ḥajjāj therefore dispatched a sizeable force in pursuit under ʿUmārah ibn Tamīm al-Lakhmī (1), accompanied by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥajjāj, with overall command given to ʿUmārah. They pressed hard behind the fugitives, driving them on in the hope of overtaking them for killing or capture.

Ibn al-Ashʿath pushed onward, cutting across provinces, districts, and rural estates while they remained on his heels until he reached Kermān. The Syrian contingents followed, and one day they encamped in a palace that the Iraqis had previously occupied. There they found a letter written by one of the Kufans who had fled with Ibn al-Ashʿath, containing verses by Abū Juldah al-Yashkurī (2):

Ah, alas! what grief and sorrow both,
how fiercely the heart burns at what we have endured.
We have forsaken both religion and the world together,
abandoning our wives and our sons.
We were never folk devoted to worldly gain,
to shield it even had we no hope of religion. (3)
We left our homes to the riff-raff of ʿAk,
to the village peasants and the Ashʿarīs.

Ibn al-Ashʿath and the small remnant with him then entered the territory of Ratbīl, king of the Turks. Ratbīl honoured him, lodged him, granted him safety, and treated him with great esteem.

[Al-Wāqidī relates:] On his way to Ratbīl’s lands, Ibn al-Ashʿath passed a governor (4) whom he himself had appointed over one of the towns upon his return from Iraq. That governor welcomed him warmly, presented gifts, and offered him hospitality—doing so only out of deceit and guile. He said, “Enter the town with me and you will be fortified against your enemy, but allow none of your men to enter the city.” Ibn al-Ashʿath agreed, for the man intended to betray him. His companions tried to dissuade him, but he would not listen, so they dispersed. Once he had entered the city, the governor pounced, seized him, shackled him in iron, and hoped thus to curry favour with al-Ḥajjāj.

King Ratbīl had rejoiced at Ibn al-Ashʿath’s arrival. When news reached him of the governor’s treachery in the city of Bust, he marched until he had surrounded Bust and sent word to its governor: “By Allah, if you so much as harm Ibn al-Ashʿath, I shall not depart until I have dragged you down and killed every soul in your town.” The governor, terrified, released Ibn al-Ashʿath and sent him on to Ratbīl, who received him with honour.

Ibn al-Ashʿath then said to Ratbīl, “This man was my own governor and subordinate, yet he betrayed me and did what you have seen; grant me permission to kill him.”