and was counted among their scholars. He practiced various spiritual disciplines, engaged in dealings with others, and transmitted reports. He was one of the foremost masters of eloquence, having learned the Arabic language from Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī (1).
Shurayḥ ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Qays, the judge (2), lived through the Jāhiliyyah and was appointed by ʿUmar as qāḍī of Kūfah, a post he held for sixty-five years. He was learned, upright, abundant in good works, of fine character and much good-humor. He was kawsaǧ—beardless of face; the same was true of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, and Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah. His lineage, age, and the year of his death are matters of divergent reports, but Ibn Khallikān preferred the view that he died this very year; Allah knows best.
[Then the year 88 AH began.]
During that year the summer expedition was led by Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik together with his nephew al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. With the Muslims who accompanied them they captured the fortress of Ṭuwānah (3) in Jumādā of that year. It was a strong and well-fortified place. A fierce battle took place at its walls: the Muslims charged the Christians and routed them, driving them into the church. The Christians then sallied out, attacked the Muslims, and the Muslims broke and fled. No one remained steadfast at his post except al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd, with whom stood Ibn Muḥayriz al-Jumaḥī.
Al-ʿAbbās said to Ibn Muḥayriz, “Where are the Quran-reciters who seek Allah’s Face—glorified be He?” He replied, “Call to them and they will come to you.” So he cried out, “O people of the Quran!” The men rallied, charged the Christians, smashed their ranks, and the latter withdrew into the fortress. The Muslims then besieged them until they captured it.
Ibn Jarīr (4) related that in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of that same year a letter from al-Walīd arrived to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ordering him to demolish the Prophet’s Mosque, annex to it the apartments of the wives of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and enlarge it on the qiblah side and on all other sides until it measured two hundred cubits by two hundred cubits. “If anyone sells you his property, buy it from him; otherwise, assess it for him at a fair price, then demolish it and hand them the compensation, for you have as precedent in this matter the truthful examples of ʿUmar and ʿUthmān.” ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz therefore gathered the notables, the ten jurists, and the people of Madinah and read to them the letter of the Commander of the Faithful, al-Walīd.
[This weighed heavily upon them, and they said, “These are modest rooms with low ceilings. Their roofs are made of palm-frond rafters, their walls of sun-dried brick, and at their doors hang coarse woolen cloths. Leaving them as they are is preferable, so that pilgrims, visitors, and travelers may look upon them—and upon the houses of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—benefit from the sight and take admonition from it. That would spur them to renounce the world, so that they would build therein only what necessity requires for shelter and concealment…]"