Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

for Saʿīd has died,” (this will continue) till you become upright for me. By
Allah I will surely have many people whom I will drop amongst you, so
every person should be wary of not becoming part of those whom I will
drop. 1
Ziyād was the first individual who applied harshness in the affairs of leadership
and enforced the rulership of Muʿāwiyah I. He made adherence compulsory
upon the people, he advanced in penalising, he unsheathed his sword, and he
apprehended and punished people based on suspicion. And thus the people
feared him immensely. 2
Much more harsh and daunting than his sermon was the sermon of Ḥajjāj, also
the first sermon he delivered when entering Iraq. The following is an excerpt
from it:
والله يا أهل العراق إني أرى رؤوسا قد أينعت وحان قطافها،‏ وإني لصاحبها،‏ فكأني أنظر إلى الدماء فوق
العمائم واللحى...والله لعصبنكم عصب السلمة ولضربنكم ضرب غرائب البل.‏
By Allah, O people of Iraq, I see heads that have ripened and whose time of
harvest has arrived and I will be the one harvesting them. It is as though
I see blood staining the turbans and the beards. By Allah I will tie you like
how the Salamah tree 3 is tied, and I will beat you like how stray camels are
beaten. 4
1 Al-Bayān wa al-Tabyīn 243; Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 3/197; al-ʿIqd al-Farīd 4/102; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 3/305.
2 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 3/198; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 3/307; Tārīkh ibn Khaldūn 3/10.
3 This is a thorny tree from which it is difficult to pick leaves due to it being very thorny. Hence its
branches are gathered and they are tied together firmly, and thereafter they are struck with a stick
subsequent to which leaves fall for the animals or for those keen on collecting them. See: al-Nihāyah fī
Gharīb al-Athar 3/244; Lisān al-ʿArab 1/603.
4 Al-Badʾ wa al-Tārīkh 6/29; Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 3/547; al-Muntaẓam 6/152; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 12/127.
Ibn al-Athīr says whilst commenting upon his phrase ‘stray camels’, “He is threatening his subjects.
What the statement means is that when the camels come to water to drink and a stray camels comes
to join them it is hit and chased away. Lisān al-ʿArab 1/647.
307