whereas he asked the caliph for water and the caliph gave him sweet, fresh water—that is, the well I dug at the two passes, Thaniyyat Ṭuwā and Thaniyyat al-Ḥajūn.” Its water used to be carried and poured into a leather basin set beside Zamzam so that people might see its superiority over Zamzam. He then added, “Later that well caved in and its water vanished; to this day no one knows where it went.”

This chain of transmission is unusual, and the statement itself amounts to disbelief if it is truly his. In my judgment the attribution of these words to Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allah is not sound; but if it is genuine, then he is an enemy of Allah. A similar remark has been reported from al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf—namely, that he deemed the caliph superior to the Messenger whom Allah sent—and all such utterances constitute disbelief on the part of the speaker (1).

In the same year Maslama ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (2) campaigned against the Turks, reaching Bāb al-Abwāb (3) on the Azerbaijani frontier, and he captured many fortresses and towns there.

That year ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz led the people in the ḥajj. Our teacher, the ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Dhahabī (4), says: “In this year Majorca and Minorca were conquered—they lie in the sea between Sicily and al-Andalus. In the same year Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr dispatched his son against al-Naqris, king of the Franks, and he seized many lands” (5).

Among the notable deaths this year:
• ʿAbd Allah ibn Busr (6) ibn Abī Busr al-Māzinī—both he and his father were Companions; the more correct view is that he died the previous year.
• ʿAbd Allah ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ṣuʿayr (7), an ʿUdhrite poet of the second generation. It is said that he lived during the Prophet’s lifetime—peace and blessings be upon him—and that the Prophet once passed his hand over his head (8). Al-Zuhrī used to learn genealogy from him.

The provincial governors for this year were the same as those mentioned for the preceding year.