and silver; also women and children from among the Turks and the other captives—Muslims and non-Muslims alike—so numerous that they could neither be counted nor described, given their sheer numbers, great worth, and fine appearance.

When Khāqān sensed that death was near, he stabbed his wife with a dagger and killed her. The Muslims reached the camp while she was still in her last breaths, faintly moving, and found the cauldrons boiling with food. Khāqān fled with those who remained, entered one of the nearby cities, and fortified himself within it. It happened that he played backgammon with one of the local princes; when the prince defeated him, Khāqān threatened to cut off his hand. The prince became enraged, plotted against him, and killed him. The Turks then scattered in factions, each group attacking and plundering the other.

Asad sent word to his brother Khālid informing him of the victory and of Khāqān’s downfall. He also forwarded Khāqān’s kettledrums—huge drums whose thunderous sound echoed like the sky—as well as much of his stores and equipment. Khālid presented them to the Commander of the Faithful Hishām, who rejoiced greatly and rewarded the envoys with bountiful sums from the public treasury.

A poet praised Asad for this achievement:

Were you to roam the earth and measure every span,
Its length and breadth would lie revealed to man.
No better rule or settled law would any seeker find
Than that of Emir Asad—decisive, firm of mind.
He poured out good to us till good in torrents flowed,
And gathered what was scattered, once broken and bowed.
Khāqān escaped him only at a frantic ride,
For Asad’s blows had crushed the armies at his side.
O son of Shurayḥ, you have tasted draught so sour,
A bitter cure that heals the sick with sudden power.

In that same year Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī put to death al-Mughīra ibn Saʿīd and a group of his followers who shared in his falsehood. Al-Mughīra was a sorcerer, an impious, deviant Shīʿī.

Ibn Jarīr (1) said: “Ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us; Jarīr narrated from al-Aʿmash, who said: I heard al-Mughīra ibn Saʿīd say, ‘Had ʿAlī (2) wished to revive ʿĀd, Thamūd, and the former generations, he could have done so.’”

Al-Aʿmash added: “That al-Mughīra used to go out to the cemetery, speak, and shapes like locusts would appear over the graves—or words to that effect.” Ibn Jarīr recorded other incidents (3) attesting to his sorcery and depravity.

When the news reached Khālid, he ordered al-Mughīra’s arrest. He was brought with six or seven men. Khālid had his seat set up in the mosque and ordered that tons (4) of reeds and naphtha be heaped together and drenched. He commanded al-Mughīra to clasp one bundle of reeds to his chest. When he refused, he was beaten until he complied; naphtha was then poured over his head and set aflame. The same sentence was carried out upon the rest of his companions.

That year a man named Bahlūl ibn Bishr, nicknamed Kathāra, rose in rebellion, and groups of Khārijites rallied to him,