Abu al-Mutawakkil al-Naji (1)—his given name was ʿAli ibn Dawud al-Naji of Basra—was a venerable Successor, trustworthy and of high standing (2).
The year 103 AH began.
In it, the governor of Iraq, ʿUmar ibn Hubayra, dismissed Saʿid, nicknamed Khudhaina, from the deputyship of Khurasan and, with the permission of the Commander of the Faithful, appointed Saʿid ibn ʿAmr al-Harashi (3) in his place. This Saʿid was one of the celebrated warriors; the Turks were alarmed by him and feared him greatly, retreating from the lands of Sogd to territories beyond, in China and elsewhere.
That same year Yazid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik combined under ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Dahhak ibn Qays the governorships of Medina and Mecca, and named ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Nasri (4) deputy of al-Taʾif. The pilgrimage that year was led on behalf of the people by the governor of the Two Sanctuaries, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn al-Dahhak ibn Qays. Allah, exalted and most high, knows best.
Among the notable figures who died that year were:
Yazid ibn Abi Muslim (5), Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Madani;
ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar al-Hilali (6), Abu Muhammad, the preacher of Medina, freedman of Maymuna, and brother of Sulayman.
(1) His biography appears in: Ṭabaqāt ibn Saʿd (vol. 7, p. 225); Ṭabaqāt Khalīfa S. (p. 206); al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (vol. 6, p. 273); al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (vol. 6, p. 184); Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vols. 20, p. 424 and 34, p. 250); Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 4, p. 223); Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (vol. 12, p. 99); and Khulāṣat Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (p. 450).
(2) In edition Q the phrase “He died having reached eighty years, may God have mercy on him” is inserted here; it does not appear in editions B or H. A similar phrase, “having reached eighty,” occurs in the preceding biography of al-Dahhāk ibn Muzāḥim but was omitted in Q. I have therefore restored it, as its displacement was likely a copyist’s error. This is corroborated by Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 13, p. 297), where al-Dahhāk is quoted as saying, “I was an eighty-year-old man with sinewy strength.”
(3) In edition Q “al-Jurayshī” is a scribal error; the reading confirmed by H and B is correct.
(4) The variants in the sources are corrupt: Q has “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Naḍrī,” H reads “ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Baṣrī,” and B has “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Naḍrī.” The reading adopted here is based on his biography in Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir (vol. 44, p. 8) and al-Ansāb by al-Simnānī (vol. 5, p. 495; Dar al-Jinān, Beirut).
(5) This biography is not found in B or H. Ibn Abī Aslam includes it in: Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī (vol. 6, p. 617); al-Kāmil by Ibn al-Athīr (vol. 5, p. 101); the abridged Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir (vol. 28, p. 15); Wafayāt al-A‘yān (vol. 6, p. 309); Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 4, p. 593); Tārīkh al-Islām (vol. 4, p. 215); Mir’āt al-Jinān (vol. 1, p. 212); al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 1, p. 245); Shudhūr al-Dhahab (vol. 1, p. 124); al-Iṣṭiqṣā’ (vol. 1, p. 46); and Raghbat al-ʿĀmil (vol. 5, pp. 167, 169).
(6) His biography appears in: Ṭabaqāt ibn Saʿd (vol. 5, p. 173); Ṭabaqāt Khalīfa T. (no. 2132); al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (vol. 6, p. 461); al-Maʿārif S. (p. 459); al-Maʿrifa wa-l-Tārīkh (vol. 1, p. 564); al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (vol. 5, p. 335); Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir (vol. 17, p. 80); Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 20, p. 125); Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 4, p. 448); Ghayat al-Nihāya T. (no. 2122); and Tahdhīb ….