while the deputy-governor of Mecca was Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī, that of Madinah was ʿUthmān ibn Ḥayyān. Al-Ḥajjāj held authority over the entire eastern provinces, Qutaybah ibn Muslim over Khurāsān, and—on al-Ḥajjāj’s behalf—Ziyād ibn Jarīr over Kūfah, with Abū Bakr ibn Abī Mūsā as its chief judge. Likewise on al-Ḥajjāj’s behalf, al-Jarrāḥ ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥakamī governed Basrah, with ʿAbd Allāh (1) ibn Udhaynah presiding over its judiciary. And Allah—glorified and exalted be He—knows best.

[Notice of those who died in that year among the illustrious and distinguished]

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr ibn Hishām al-Asadī (2), client of the Banū Wālibah, known as Abū Muḥammad—some say Abū ʿAbd Allāh—was a Kufan by origin and a Meccan by residence. He ranked among the foremost disciples of Ibn ʿAbbās and was an imam of Islam in Qurʾanic exegesis, jurisprudence, and the various branches of knowledge, in addition to his copious righteous works. May Allah have mercy upon him. He met many of the Companions, narrated from a number of them, and a multitude of Successors and others narrated from him. It is said that he would recite a complete reading of the Qurʾān between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ, that he would sit once inside the Kaʿbah and finish an entire recitation there, and that at times he completed it in a single rakʿah within the Kaʿbah.

When the people of Kūfah came to consult Ibn ʿAbbās, he exclaimed, “Is not Saʿīd ibn Jubayr (3) among you?”

Sufyān al-Thawrī related from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, from his father, who said: “Saʿīd ibn Jubayr has died, and there is no one upon the face of the earth who is not in need of his knowledge (4).”

He was among those who sided with Ibn al-Ashʿath against al-Ḥajjāj. When al-Ḥajjāj prevailed, Saʿīd fled to Isfahān. Each year thereafter he would travel to Mecca twice—once for ʿumrah and once for ḥajj—and he would occasionally enter Kūfah to teach. While in Khurāsān he would become sorrowful (5) because no one there asked him about any aspect of knowledge; he used to say, “What troubles me is the knowledge I possess—I wish people would take it.” He remained in this state, hidden from al-Ḥajjāj, for nearly twelve years. Eventually Khālid al-Qasrī sent him from Mecca to al-Ḥajjāj, and the exchange that took place between them has already been mentioned.

Abū Nuʿaym said in his work Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ (6): “Abū Ḥāmid ibn Jabalah narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; …”