asking permission to distribute those treasures among the soldiers. Al-Ḥajjāj assented, whereupon the Muslims grew wealthy and were strengthened for combat against the enemy; each man now possessed a very great share. They obtained plentiful weapons, equipment, and horses, and through that their power increased enormously—praise and bounty belong to Allah alone.
During this same year the pilgrimage was led by ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the deputy governor of Madinah. His judge there was Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm. Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī governed Iraq and the entire eastern region; his deputy in Basra was al-Jarrāḥ ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥakamī, whose judge was ʿAbd Allah ibn Adhina. His military commander in Kufah was Ziyād ibn Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī, whose judge was Abū Bakr ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī. His deputy over Khurasan and its provinces was Qutaybah ibn Muslim.
Those who died in this year include:
ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī (1), a distinguished Companion who settled in Homs. It is related that he witnessed the campaign against Banū Qurayẓah, and al-ʿIrbaḍ reported that ʿUtbah would say, “He is better than I; he embraced Islam a year before me.” Al-Wāqidī and others held that he died this very year, while others placed his death sometime after ninety AH; Allah knows best.
[Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī said: ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī was one of the Ahl al-Ṣuffah. Baqiyyah narrated from Bujayr ibn Saʿd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“If a man were dragged upon his face from the day he was born until the day he dies an old man, seeking Allah’s pleasure, he would still regard it as insignificant on the Day of Resurrection.” (2)
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated from ʿAqīl ibn Mudrik, from Luqmān ibn ʿĀmir, from ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī, who said: “I complained to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—of my nakedness, so he clothed me with two coarse garments of sacking. Indeed, I later saw myself as the best-clad of the Companions.” (3)]
al-Miqdām ibn Maʿdī Karib (4), another eminent Companion who likewise settled in Homs; he narrated several hadiths, and a number of the Successors transmitted from him.