Abu Jaʿfar Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī has recorded (1) that Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar knew nothing of Zayd ibn ʿAlī’s uprising until Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik wrote to him, saying, “You are heedless! Zayd ibn ʿAlī has planted his banner in Kūfa and people are pledging allegiance to him. Pursue him relentlessly and grant him safe-conduct; if he refuses, then fight him.” Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar therefore sought Zayd, and the events already mentioned transpired. When Zayd’s grave was discovered, Yūsuf severed his head and sent it to Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, who mounted it above the gate of Damascus. He then ordered that it be taken on to Madinah, where it was displayed over one of its gates. As for the body, it remained crucified under guard day and night until Hishām’s reign ended and al-Walīd ibn Yazīd succeeded him. Al-Walīd ordered that it be taken down and burned during his days—may Allah disgrace this al-Walīd.

Zayd’s son, Yaḥyā ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī, sought protection with ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Bishr ibn Marwān. Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar wrote to ʿAbd al-Malik, threatening him until he should surrender Yaḥyā. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Bishr replied, “I would never give shelter to such a man; he is our enemy and the son of our enemy.” Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar accepted this assurance. When the pressure abated, ʿAbd al-Malik secretly sent Yaḥyā to Khurāsān, and Yaḥyā departed with a group of Zaydīs to Khurāsān, where they stayed for some time (2).

Abū Mikhnaf relates: When Zayd was killed, Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar addressed the people of Kūfa, threatening, warning, reviling, and rebuking them. Among the things he said was, “By Allah, I asked the Commander of the Believers for permission to kill a multitude of you; had he granted it, I would have slain your fighting men and taken your children as captives. I have mounted this pulpit only to make you hear what you detest.”

Ibn Jarīr adds (3): In this same year ʿAbd Allāh al-Baṭṭāl was killed along with a group of Muslims in Byzantine territory.

Ibn Jarīr offers no further detail. The eminent ḥadīth scholar Ibn ʿAsākir, however, mentions this man in his grand History, saying: ʿAbd Allāh Abū Yaḥyā, known as al-Baṭṭāl (4), resided in Antioch; Abū Marwān the Antiochene transmitted from him. Ibn ʿAsākir then relates with his chain that when ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān invested his son Maslamah with the campaign against the Byzantine lands, he appointed al-Baṭṭāl over the chiefs of the people of al-Jazīrah and al-Shām, and said to his son Maslamah, “Send him at the head of your vanguards and command him to patrol the camp by night, for he is trustworthy, reliable, bold, and courageous.” ʿAbd al-Malik accompanied them to the gate of Damascus to bid them farewell.

He continues: Maslamah placed al-Baṭṭāl in command of ten thousand men who would form a shield before him, lest the Byzantines reach the Muslim lines.

Muḥammad ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Dimashqī said: al-Walīd ibn Muslim told us, narrating from Abū Marwān, an elder from Antioch, who said: