and they would realize that such lofty buildings are only the works of Pharaohs and Chosroes, and of everyone whose hopes are long, who hankers after the world and wishes to remain in it forever. At that point ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz wrote to al-Walīd conveying the unanimous opinion of the ten jurists already named. Al-Walīd replied, instructing him to proceed with the demolition, to rebuild the mosque as described, and to raise its roofs. ʿUmar therefore had no choice but to pull it down. When the demolition began, the nobles and leading men of the Banū Hāshim and others cried out and wept as they had on the day the Prophet passed away, peace and blessings be upon him (1).

Those who owned property adjoining the mosque agreed to sell it; he purchased it from them, set to work, hitched up his garments, and devoted himself earnestly. A large number of laborers arrived from al-Walīd, and he incorporated into the new building the Prophetic apartment—the apartment of ʿĀʾishah—so that the grave now lay within the mosque (2). Its eastern boundary and the rest of the apartments of the Mothers of the Believers were thus included, and he enlarged the mosque as al-Walīd had ordered. It is related that when they dug along the eastern wall of ʿĀʾishah’s apartment a foot appeared; they feared it might be that of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—until they verified that it was the foot of ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him. It is also said that Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab objected to bringing ʿĀʾishah’s apartment inside the mosque, apparently fearing that the grave might then be taken as a place of worship—and Allah knows best.

Ibn Jarīr (3) reports that al-Walīd wrote to the Byzantine emperor asking him to send builders; the emperor sent one hundred craftsmen, about fifty camel-loads of precious stones for the Prophet’s Mosque, and one hundred thousand dinars (4). The better-known opinion, however, is that this consignment was intended for the mosque of Damascus; Allah knows best.

Al-Walīd also instructed ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz to dig the fuwwārah spring in Madinah and to channel its water, which he did. He further ordered him to dig wells and level the roads and mountain passes [bringing the water to the fuwwārah from outside the city; the spring was built on the edge of the mosque at a spot that had pleased him] (5).

In the same year Qutaybah ibn Muslim campaigned against the Turkic ruler Kurbughānūn (6), the nephew of the emperor of China, who had with him two hundred thousand [fighters from Sogd, Farghānah, and other regions. They fought a fierce battle, and Qutaybah had Nīzak, a Turkic ruler, in captivity]. Qutaybah routed them, seized immense plunder, [killed great numbers of them, and took captives and prisoners].

That year ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz also led the people in the pilgrimage, accompanied by parties of Quraysh nobility. When he reached al-Tanʿīm he was met by a group