territories of the Turks; they pressed on into Transoxiana, the first regions of the Maghrib, and the early districts of India. The marketplace of jihad therefore remained bustling throughout the first century after the Hijrah, right up to the fall of the Umayyad state, and it continued during the Abbasid caliphate—in the days of al-Manṣūr and his sons, of Hārūn al-Rashīd and his sons—in the lands of Byzantium, the Turks, and India. During their reign, Maḥmūd Subuktigin and his son opened many parts of India, and when a group of Umayyads who had fled to the Maghrib gained power there, they rekindled the jihad against the Franks.
When, however, jihad lapsed in those regions, the enemy returned, captured vast tracts, and Islam there grew weak. Later, when the Fāṭimids took control of Egypt and Syria, Islam weakened further and its supporters became few; the Franks arrived, seized most of Syria, and even took Jerusalem and other Syrian towns. But Allah, exalted be He, raised up the Ayyubids together with Nūr al-Dīn, who wrested those lands from the Franks and drove them out. All praise and gratitude belong to Allah. All of this will be recounted in its proper place, if Allah, Most High, so wills. (1)
In this same year al-Walīd removed ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz from the governorship of Madinah. The reason was that ʿUmar had written to al-Walīd informing him that the people of Iraq were suffering oppression and hardship at the hands of al-Ḥajjāj because of his tyranny and brutality. When al-Ḥajjāj heard of the letter he wrote to al-Walīd: “ʿUmar is too weak for the governorship of Madinah and Mecca, and such weakness undermines the authority (2); appoint over the Two Sanctuaries someone who can keep their affairs in hand. Set ʿUthmān ibn Ḥayyān over Madinah and Khālid ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Qasrī over Mecca.” Al-Walīd complied.
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz left Madinah in Shawwāl and stopped at al-Suwaydāʾ, while ʿUthmān ibn Ḥayyān entered Madinah with two nights remaining of Shawwāl that same year. The pilgrimage that year was led by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.
Among the notable figures who died this year were:
Anas ibn Mālik (3) ibn al-Naḍr ibn Zayd ibn Ḥarām ibn Jundub ibn ʿĀmir ibn Ghanm ibn ʿAdiyy ibn