Then, when Yazīd died, civil strife broke out in Syria between Marwān and al-Dahhāk at Marj Rāhit.

Then al-Mukhtār rose against Ibn Ziyād and killed him, and civil strife broke out.

Then Musab ibn al-Zubayr came, killed al-Mukhtār, and civil strife broke out.

Then Abd al-Malik marched against Musab, killed him, and civil strife broke out. (1)

Al-Hajjāj then sent forces against Ibn al-Zubayr. He besieged him for a time, then killed him, and civil strife broke out.

Then, when al-Hajjāj became governor of Iraq, Ibn al-Ashath (2) rebelled against him with a vast multitude of Iraqis (3), and tremendous civil strife ensued. All this occurred after Muāwiyah’s death.

Then came the civil strife of Ibn al-Muhallab in Khurāsān. Zayd ibn Ali was killed in Kufa, as were many others.

Then Abū Muslim and others rose up in Khurāsān, and wars and civil strife ensued whose full account would be lengthy—and so it continued thereafter.

Thus, among the Muslim rulers, there was no ruler better than Muāwiyah, nor were the people under the reign (4) of any ruler better than they were during Muāwiyah’s reign—when his era is compared with the eras of those who came after him. But when it is compared with the eras of Abū Bakr and Umar, the difference in merit becomes clear.

Abū Bakr al-Athram narrated—and Ibn Battah narrated it through him: Muhammad ibn—