Ubayd, and the destroyer was al-Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (1).
It is well known that Umar ibn Sad, the commander of the detachment that killed (2) al-Husayn, despite his wrongdoing and his preference for worldly life over religion, did not go as far in sin as al-Mukhtār ibn Abī Ubayd, who publicly championed al-Husayn and killed his killer. Rather, [he was] (3) a greater liar and graver sinner than Umar ibn Sad. Thus, this Shia partisan was worse than that anti-Alid. Indeed, al-Hajjāj [ibn Yūsuf] (4) was better than al-Mukhtār [ibn Abī Ubayd] (5), for al-Hajjāj was a destroyer, as the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—called him, who unlawfully shed blood; whereas al-Mukhtār was a liar who claimed prophethood (6) and that Gabriel came
(1) Abū Muhammad al-Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Aqīl ibn Masūd al-Thaqafī was born in 41 AH in al-Tāif. Abd al-Malik ibn al-Walīd appointed him commander of his army and sent him against Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, whom he killed in 73 AH. Abd al-Malik then appointed him governor of Mecca, Medina, and al-Tāif, and later of Iraq, where he quelled the revolt. His rule remained secure for twenty years. He founded the city of Wāsit and died there in 95 AH. See his biography in: Wafayāt al-Ayān, 1:341–348; al-Akhbār al-Tiwāl, pp. 314–329; al-Ziriklī, al-Alām, 2:175–176; Lammens, “al-Hajjāj,” Encyclopaedia of Islam; Tārīkh al-Tabarī, 6:174 ff.; Murūj al-Dhahab, 3:119–122, 132–164.
(2) N and M read: “fought.”
(3) *Kāna* (“was”) is omitted from N and M.
(4) A and B add: “ibn Yūsuf.”
(5) A and B add: “ibn Abī Ubayd.”
(6) A and B read: “revelation.”