We have recorded their biographies (1) in our book “al-Takmīl,” and to Allah belong all praise and favor.
[Then the year 107 AH commenced]
That year a man in Yemen called ʿAbbād al-Ruʿaynī rebelled. He invited people to the doctrine of the khawārij (Kharijites), a group followed him, and they took up arms. Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar fought them, killing him and his companions—three hundred in all—and all praise is due to Allah.
During the same year a severe plague struck Syria. In it Muʿāwiya ibn Hishām led the summer raid, while the Syrian forces were under the command of Maymūn ibn Mihrān. They crossed the sea to Cyprus, and Maslama mounted another expedition by land.
That year Asad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Qasrī captured a number of Abbasid propagandists in Khurasan; he crucified them and made their fate public.
He also campaigned against the mountains of Nimrūd (2), king of Gharshistān (3), which border the Ṭāleqān range. Nimrūd sued for peace and embraced Islam at his hands.
Asad next marched against al-Ghawr—the mountains of Herat. Its inhabitants gathered their stores, wealth, and heavy belongings and hid them in an impregnable cave that no one could reach, for it lay extremely low-lying (4). Asad ordered men to be placed in coffins and lowered down; he instructed them to load the coffins with everything inside. When the goods had been secured, the men sat back in the coffins and were pulled up. They emerged safely and took the spoils. It was a sound and judicious stratagem.
For the Hereafter. Then afterward the Messenger of God ﷺ said to him, “What have you done regarding what I commanded you?” He replied, “I have done it, O Messenger of God.” The Prophet ﷺ then said, “Go and collect their accounts.” He went, and then returned to the Prophet ﷺ with his head bowed. The Prophet ﷺ—smiling—said: “I do not think, O Ali, that anyone stood firm with you except the people of the Hereafter.” Ali responded, “No, by Him who sent you with the truth.” The Prophet ﷺ added:
“Al-akhillā’u yawma’idhin ba‘ḍuhum liba‘ḍin ‘aduwwun illā l-muttaqīn (67). Yā ‘ibādī, lā khawfun ‘alaykum.”
[Qur’an, 43:67–68]
Then he said, “O Ali, attend to your own affairs, restrain your tongue, and be wary of whoever… live in harmony with the people of your time, and you will be safe and triumphant.” This report is transmitted only in this version, as far as we know, and God knows best.
—Extracted from Abu Nu‘aym, al-Hilya (4:22–23). He remarks: “This is a singular report from the hadith of Tawus, preserved only in this form.” Bashshar al-Asad comments that its isnād is very weak, containing ‘Abd al-Mun‘im b. Idrīs b. Sinān al-Yamanī (see Mīzān al-I‘tidāl, 2:668), and that his father, Idrīs b. Sinān, is also weak.
Here ends the section added by manuscript Q, enclosed in brackets opened on p. 65 at footnote 4 and closed here.
(1) In Q: “we have translated them.” The reading in B and H—referring to Sālim b. ‘Abd Allāh and Tawus b. Kaysān—is preferred.
(2) In al-Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī the name appears as Namrūn.
(3) In Q: “al-Qarqisiyān,” which is a corruption; the readings in B and H—as well as in Tārīkh Khalīfa (p. 337) and al-Mu‘jam al-Buldan (4:193)—are correct. This was a wilāya located between Herat to the west, al-Ghur to the east, Marw al-Rūdh to the north, and Ghazna to the south.
(4) In Q: “it is due upon him, and he is haughty,” which is a scribal error; the readings in B and H are correct.