In this year, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Umm Ḥakam went on a military expedition to the lands of the Byzantines and spent the winter there. Again, in this year, the Muslims, under the command of Judāna b. Abī Umayya, went to Rhodes and conquered it, and a group of Muslims began to reside there, behaving with utmost severity towards the disbelievers. They would intercept their routes at sea and cause them difficulties. Muʿāwiya sent this group abundant provisions and gifts. They were extremely cautious against the Franks. They would spend their nights in a fortress on Rhodes. There, they had goods, mounts, and equipment to meet their various needs. They had lookouts at sea, who would inform them when the enemy approached. This situation continued until Yazīd’s accession to the throne after his father Muʿāwiya. When Yazīd ascended the throne, he sent them from the island of Rhodes to another place. The Muslims possessed a great deal of property and large amounts of agricultural land on this island.
In this year, the governor of Medina, Saʿīd b. ʿĀṣ, led the people in the pilgrimage. Abū Maʿshar and al-Wāqidī have stated this. In this year, Jabalat b. Ayyham al-Ghassānī died. The biography of this person will be given in the next section. In this year, Rabīʿ b. Ziyād al-Ḥārisī died. There is disagreement as to whether this person was among the Companions (ṣaḥāba) or not. Rabīʿ was the governor of Khurāsān under Ziyād. When he remembered Ḥijr b. ʿAdī, he felt pity and sorrow for him, and then said: "By Allah, if the Arabs had risen up for him, he would not have been imprisoned and killed. But the Arabs were content with his situation and were humiliated." When Friday came, he supplicated to Allah on the pulpit, asking to be caused to die, and he did not live until the next Friday. In his place, his son ʿAbdullāh b. Rabīʿ was appointed governor. Ziyād also approved this appointment. Two months later, he himself died. In their place, Khālid b. ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥanafī was appointed to Khurāsān. Ziyād also approved this administrative change.