al-Muhallab. When Yazid ibn al-Muhallab learned that the armies had set out against him, he departed Basra, appointing his brother Marwan ibn al-Muhallab to govern it in his place. He continued on until he encamped at Wasit, where he consulted the commanders who accompanied him as to the course he should adopt. Their opinions diverged. Some advised him to march to Ahwaz and fortify himself on the mountain peaks. He replied, “You only wish to turn me into a bird perched upon a mountaintop!”

Others urged him to go to al-Jazirah, take up residence there, secure himself in its strongest fortress, send the men of Iraq to harry the Syrians, rally the people of al-Jazirah to his side, and then fight the Syrians with them on a gentle, inexpensive campaign.

The year came to a close while he was still encamped at Wasit and the Syrian army was advancing toward him.

That same year the pilgrims were led by ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Dahhak ibn Qays, the governor of Madinah. Mecca was under the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Khalid ibn Asid; Kufah was governed by ʿAbd al-Hamid ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab, with ʿAmir al-Shaʿbi serving as its qāḍī (chief judge); and in Basra Yazid ibn al-Muhallab held sway, having taken control of it and renounced allegiance to the Commander of the Faithful, Yazid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.

During this year there also died, together with ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz: Ribʿi ibn Hirash, Muslim ibn Yasar, and Abu Salih al-Samman—a devoted, truthful, and reliable worshipper whose biography we have recorded in our book al-Takmil. All praise and bounty belong to Allah.

[Then came the year 102 AH]

In that year Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik met Yazid ibn al-Muhallab in battle. Yazid rode out from Wasit, appointing his son Muʿawiyah as his deputy, and advanced with an army whose vanguard was led by his brother ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Muhallab until he reached a place called al-ʿAqr. There Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik overtook him with forces that Yazid had no power to match. The two vanguards met first and fought fiercely: the men of Basra routed the Syrians, but the Syrians rallied one another, charged the Basrans, put them to flight, and defeated them. They killed a number of brave warriors, among them al-Mantuf, a renowned champion who belonged to the freedmen of Bakr ibn Waʾil. Concerning this al-Farazdaq composed (1):

You weep for al-Mantuf of Bakr ibn Waʾil,
Yet forbid the one who mourns the two sons of Musmaʿ.

He was answered by al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, the client of the Thawriyīn from Hamdan—this man was the first proponent of the Jahmiyyah, and he is the one whom Khalid ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Qasri slaughtered on the Day of ʿId al-Adha—who said: