In this year al-Walid appointed Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi governor of Madinah, Makkah, and Ta’if. He ordered him to keep Ibrahim and Muhammad, the two sons of Hisham ibn Ismaʿil al-Makhzumi, in Madinah in a state of humiliation—because they were Hisham’s maternal uncles—and then to send them on to Yusuf ibn ʿUmar, the governor of Iraq. He accordingly dispatched them, and the latter continued to torture them until they died, taking from them large sums of money.

In the same year Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Ansari was appointed chief judge of Madinah.

That year al-Walid ibn Yazid also sent an army with his brother to Cyprus, instructing him: “Offer them the choice: whoever wishes may relocate to Syria, and whoever wishes may go over to the Romans.” Some of them chose to live under the Muslims in Syria, while others moved to Byzantine territory.

Ibn Jarir said (1): “In this year Sulayman ibn Kathir, Malik ibn al-Haytham, Lahiz ibn Qurayz, and Qahtabah ibn Shabib arrived in Makkah. According to the historians they met Muhammad ibn ʿAli and told him the story of Abu Muslim. He asked, ‘Is he free or not?’ They replied, ‘He claims to be free, whereas his master claims he is his slave.’ They therefore purchased him, set him free, and handed Muhammad ibn ʿAli two hundred thousand dirhams together with clothing worth thirty thousand. He said to them, ‘It may be that you will not meet me after this year of yours; if I die, then your leader is Ibrahim ibn Muhammad’—meaning his son—‘for I trust him; so I commend him to you.’ Muhammad ibn ʿAli died on the first of Dhu’l-Qaʿdah of this year, seven years after the death of his father.

“In the same year Yahya ibn Yazid ibn ʿAli was killed in Khurasan. The pilgrimage that year was led by Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Thaqafi, governor of Makkah, Madinah, and Ta’if. The governor of Iraq was Yusuf ibn ʿUmar, and the governor of Khurasan was Nasr ibn Sayyar, who was preparing to travel to al-Walid ibn Yazid, Commander of the Believers, with the gifts and presents he carried; but al-Walid was killed before Nasr could meet him.

Among the notable deaths this year was Muhammad ibn ʿAli (2) ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib, the Qurashi Hashimite, Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Madani, father of as-Saffah and al-Mansur. He transmitted hadith from his father, his grandfather, Saʿid ibn Jubayr, and others, and a number of scholars related from him, among them his two sons, the future caliphs Abu’l-ʿAbbas ʿAbd Allah as-Saffah and Abu Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allah al-Mansur. ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah had entrusted the leadership to him after his own death, and he possessed knowledge of historical reports; he therefore gave him the glad tidings that the caliphate would be in