to his courtiers, “What do you make of them?”
They replied, “We have never seen their like.”
When evening fell the emperor sent word to them: “Send me your leader, the best among you.” So they sent Hubayrah.
When Hubayrah entered, the emperor said, “You have seen the vastness of my dominion; no one can protect you from me. You are like an egg in my palm. I shall ask you something: if you answer truthfully you will live, but if you lie I shall kill you.”
He answered, “Ask.”
The emperor said, “Why did you dress as you did on the first, second, and third days?”
Hubayrah replied, “Our dress on the first day is what we wear among our families and wives, along with the fragrance we use for them. What we wore on the second day is our attire when we enter upon our own kings. And what we wore on the third day is our battle dress when we face the enemy.”
The emperor said, “How excellent is the way you have arranged your lives! Now return to your commander—meaning Qutaybah—and tell him to withdraw from my lands. I know his ambition and the small number of his troops; otherwise I shall send against you those who will wipe you out to the last man.”
Hubayrah retorted, “You would say that to Qutaybah? How can a man be said to have few troops when the head of his cavalry is in your country and its tail is in the olive groves? How can one who has forsaken the world while fully able to enjoy it, and who has come to fight you in your own land, be called greedy? As for your threat of killing us, we know that each of us has an appointed term; when it arrives, the most honorable end for us is to be killed, so we neither dislike death nor fear it.”
The emperor asked, “What, then, will satisfy your commander?”
He replied, “He has sworn that he will not turn back until he sets foot on your soil, seals the necks of your kings, and collects the jizyah from your realm.”
The emperor said, “I shall fulfill his oath for him and release him from it: I will send him earth from my land, four youths from among the royal families, and a large amount of gold, silk, and Chinese garments beyond valuation.” (1)
Numerous negotiations followed until it was agreed that he would send wide golden platters filled with soil from his land for Qutaybah to tread upon, a group of his own sons and the sons of the kings so that Qutaybah might seal their necks, and a vast sum of money to honor Qutaybah’s oath—indeed, it is said that he sent four hundred (2) of his own sons and the sons of the kings.
When the gifts sent by the emperor of China reached Qutaybah—after news had already come to him of the death of the Commander of the Believers al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (3)—his resolve weakened. Qutaybah ibn Muslim al-Bahili had resolved to withhold his allegiance from Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and to summon people to pledge allegiance to himself, (4)
[for the armies were under his command and because of the lands and provinces he had conquered; yet he was unable to carry it through. He was then killed toward the end of that very year—may Allah have mercy on him. It is said that no banner of his was ever broken; he was among those who strove in the path of Allah, and armies were gathered under him such as had been assembled under no one else.
That same year Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik led the summer expedition; al-ʿAbbas ibn al-Walid campaigned against the Byzantines and captured Ṭūlis and al-Marzabānayn from their territories.] (5)