Ibn al-Ashʿath fled with 300 of his followers. They boarded boats on the Dujayl, hamstrung their mounts, crossed to Basra, and moved on from there, intending—such as their plan was—to seek refuge in Ratbīl’s lands.
Al-Ḥajjāj then began tracking down Ibn al-Ashʿath’s supporters, putting them to death two at a time or singly. It is reported that he executed before his very eyes, one by one, 130,000 of them; this was related by al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl from Hishām ibn Ḥassān ⦗1⦘. Among those killed were Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and many upright nobles and god-fearing scholars, the last of them being Saʿīd ibn Jubayr—may Allah be pleased with them all; fuller details will appear in their proper place.
The Building of Wāsiṭ during al-Ḥajjāj’s Governorship
Ibn Jarīr ⦗2⦘ relates: In this same year al-Ḥajjāj founded Wāsiṭ. The reason was that he saw a monk riding a she-donkey who had just crossed the Tigris. When the animal reached the site of Wāsiṭ it stopped and urinated. The monk dismounted, dug up the patch of earth it had soiled, and hurled the soil into the river. Al-Ḥajjāj ordered, “Bring him to me.” When the monk was brought, al-Ḥajjāj asked, “Why did you do that?” He replied, “We find in our books that a mosque will be built on this spot, in which Allah will be worshipped for as long as anyone on earth proclaims His oneness.” At that, al-Ḥajjāj marked out the city of Wāsiṭ on that very site and built the mosque exactly there.
In this year as well, ʿAṭāʾ ibn Rāfiʿ conducted a campaign against Sicily ⦗3⦘.
Among the notable figures who died this year were:
• ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥujayrah ⦗4⦘ al-Khawlani of Egypt, who transmitted hadith from numerous Companions. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān, the governor of Egypt, had combined for him the posts of judge, public preacher, and treasurer. His annual stipend was 1,000 dinars, and he never saved a single dinar of it.
• Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb ⦗5⦘ ibn ʿAbd Shams al-Aḥmasi, who saw the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and fought under Abu Bakr and ʿUmar (Allah be pleased with them), taking part in some forty-odd expeditions. He died in Madina this year.