and said:

“We once were together, but Time has scattered us apart
until the furthest limit—so who can ever feel secure against Time?”

Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (1) relates that he died at thirty-two years of age.

In the same year there also passed away:

ʿUfairah the Devotee (2) – she was constantly sorrowful and given to abundant weeping. When a relative of hers returned from travel she began to cry. People told her, “This is no occasion for tears.” She replied, “The arrival of this young man has reminded me of the arrival before Allah—there will be those who rejoice and those who are ruined.”

[In this year there likewise died] Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī (3), the teacher of al-Shāfiʿī. He was from Mecca, yet scholars criticized him for the weakness of his memory.

Then came the year 181 AH.

In it al-Rashīd campaigned against Byzantine territory and captured a fortress called al-Ṣafṣāf. On that occasion Marwān ibn Abī Ḥafṣah composed:

The Commander of the Faithful, the fair and just,
has left al-Ṣafṣāf a flat, barren plain.

That same year ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ṣāliḥ advanced into Byzantium at Anqarah and took Matmūrah (4).

In this year the Muḥammirah gained control of Jurjān.

During these two years al-Rashīd ordered that every official letter begin, after words of praise to Allah—exalted is He—with blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.

In this year as well al-Rashīd led the people in the pilgrimage and hastened the dispersal from Mina. Yaḥyā ibn Khālid asked to be relieved of his post; the caliph acceded, and Yaḥyā remained in Mecca.