“Jābir ibn Zayd—of all people he was the one who kept the closest ties with me and with my mother; I know nothing about him but good. Whenever he learned of something that would draw me nearer to Allah—exalted is He—he would instruct me to do it, and if anything would distance me from Allah he would forbid me from it. Never once did he invite me to the Ibāḍī doctrine or order me to adopt it. He would even tell me where to place the khimār,” and she laid her hand upon her forehead ⦗1⦘.
He transmitted hadith from a number of Companions; the bulk of his narrations are from Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās ⦗2⦘.
Then came the year 94 AH.
In that year al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd campaigned against the Byzantines, and it is said that he captured Antioch ⦗3⦘. His brother ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Walīd likewise marched out and reached Ghazalah ⦗4⦘. Al-Walīd ibn Hishām al-Muʿīṭī advanced to the region of Burj al-Ḥamām, while Yazīd ibn Abī Kabsha reached the land of Sūriyya. In the same year a severe earthquake struck Syria ⦗5⦘.
That year Maslama ibn ʿAbd al-Malik also took Sandarah, one of the Byzantine towns. During the reign of al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik Allah granted Islam tremendous victories at the hands of his sons, kinsmen, and commanders, so that jihad came to resemble the days of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) ⦗6⦘.
In that same year al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Thaqafī conquered the lands of India ⦗7⦘, securing spoils beyond counting or description. A hadith concerning the expedition to India has been reported by the ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir and others.
(1) Ibn Sa‘d in his Tabaqāt (vol. 7, p. 181) records two reports denying that Jabir was an Ibadi. The Ibadis are the followers of ‘Abdullah ibn Ibadh (of Banu Murrah ibn ‘Ubaydah al-Tamimi), a Kharijite sect that upheld his imamate. This group later split into four factions, all agreeing that the nonbelievers of this Ummah are free from both shirk (polytheism) and iman (faith), and are neither true believers nor polytheists but nonetheless regarded as disbelievers (kuffār): the Hafsiyya, Harithiyya, Yazidiyya, and the “People of Obedience Unintended for God.” For an overview of these sects, see al-Firaq bayna al-Firaq, p. 70; for a more detailed treatment, see al-Milla wa al-Nihāl by al-Shahrastānī (vol. 1, pp. 134–137). The report also appears in Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ (vol. 3, p. 106).
(2) From the beginning of the biography of Bilal ibn Abī al-Dardā’ up to this point the passage is missing in manuscripts A and B.
(3) This report appears in al-Tabarī (vol. 6, p. 483), Ibn al-Athīr (vol. 4, p. 578), and Tārīkh Khalīfa (p. 306). The editor of Tārīkh al-Islām (Ḥawādith al-Sanawāt 81–100, p. 261) reads it as “Antaliyya” (with lām), since that locality lies on the coast, whereas Antakiyya (Antioch) was conquered during the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb.
(4) Ibn al-Athīr in his al-Kāmil (vol. 4, p. 578) states: “Ghazāla [was] in the region of Malatya.”
(5) The report is found in al-Tabarī (vol. 6, p. 483).
(6) The phrase enclosed in the two brackets is an addition in manuscript Ṭ. The report also appears in Tārīkh al-Islām (Ḥawādith al-Sanawāt 81–100, p. 261).
(7) This report is recorded in al-Tabarī (vol. 6, p. 483), Ibn al-Athīr (vol. 4, p. 585), and Tārīkh al-Islām (Ḥawādith al-Sanawāt 81–100, p. 260). al-Tabarī mistakenly transposes the name; the correct individual is Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī, whom al-Ḥajjāj appointed at age seventeen.