However when Abdullah came to know of that, he escaped and hid.

However when Abdullah came to know of that, he escaped and hid. A rogue knew his place of hiding and went to Mu’awiya to seek nearness to him through that. The rogue told Mu’awiya that Abdullah had hidden in the house of a woman called al-Makhzumiyya. Accordingly, Mu’awiya wrote Ziyad the following: “When this letter of mine comes to you, go to the district of Banu Makhzum. Search it house by house until you reach the house of the woman called al-Makhzumiya.

Take Abdullah bin Hashim al-Mirqal out of it. Have his hair cut, clothe him in a hair jubbah, shackle him, tie his hands to his neck, carry him on a camel without a cover, and send him to me.” Ziyad searched the district of Banu Makhzum until he found Abdullah. He sent him to Mu’awiya in the manner he wanted. Abdullah arrived in Damascus on Friday, the day of reception Mu’awiya had appointed to receive [^1] Al-Kashi, Rijal, p. 47. the Qurayshi noblemen and the Iraqi dignitaries.

Hashim suddenly came in to Mu’awiya. The latter recognized the former. However Amr bin al-‘Aas did not recognize him. Mu’awiya turned to him and said: “O Abu Abdullah, do you know this young man?” “No,” replied Amr. Mu’awiya said: “This is the person whose father said at the Battle of Siffin: ‘Surely I sacrificed my life when he claimed and blamed much. (He is) one-eyed and he seeks a position for his people. He treated the life until he became tired.

There was no escape from that he would defeat (them) or would be defeated. I will fully undermine them with a spear. The noble man who turns away is not good in my opinion.’ Amr bin al-‘Aas was astonished, so he quoted as an example: “The pasture may grow in the dung of soil, and the spites of souls last as they are!” Amr bin al-‘Aas remembered the attitude of Abdullah’s father at the Battle of Siffin. He said to Mu’awiya: “O Commander of the faithful, take this malicious (person) who shed blood.

Cut his jugular veins and make his blood flow on the upper parts of his back. Do not repatriate him to the people of Iraq, for he is not patient toward hypocrisy. They (the Iraqis) are men of treachery and discord. They are the party that Iblis has prepared for the day of his excitement. He (Abdullah) has an inclination that will ruin him, an opinion that will make him a tyrant, and retinue that will make him powerful.

And an evil deed is for an evil deed!” Abdullah opposed him as if he was an angry lion. He aimed at him an arrow of speech.