Invasion of Ṭabaristán by Maṣqala b. Hu-
bayra ash-Shaybání (f. 75a).

It was now the Caliphate of 'Alí b. Abí Ṭálib. A tribe called the Banú Nájiya reverted to Christianity. 'Alí attacked and crushed them, and sold their women and children by auction as slaves to the Musulmáns. Maṣqala b. Hubayra ash-Shaybání bought them for 100,000 dirhams and set them free; but being unable to pay more than 30,000 dir­hams he fled to Mu'áwiya. 'Alí thereupon destroyed his house at Baṣra (the first time such a thing had been done in Islám) and said of him:

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Maṣqala’s descendants are still settled at Kúfa. Concerning 'Alí he said (f. 75b):

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After 'Alí’s death he promised Mu'áwiya that with 4000 man he could effect the conquest of Ṭabaristán, but, after waging war with Farrukhán for two years, he was killed on the road between Kajú and Kandasán, where his tomb still stands, and is ignorantly visited by the common people, who imagine its occupant to have been one of the Prophet’s Companions*.