In this year, the Byzantines took action. They attacked the Muslims in Damascus. Taking advantage of the conflicts between the Marwanids and ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr, they oppressed the Muslims. Out of fear of losing Damascus, ʿAbd al-Malik made peace with the Byzantine emperor on the condition of paying 1,000 dinars every Friday.
In this year, a plague epidemic broke out in Egypt. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Marwān moved to the eastern part of Egypt (Sharqiyya). He stayed at Hulwān, a stage away from Cairo. He made it his residence and purchased it from the Riptis (the indigenous people of Egypt) for 10,000 dinars, building a government palace and a mosque there, and settled his soldiers in the area.
In this year, Muṣʿab b. al-Zubayr set out from Basra to Mecca, taking with him a large amount of wealth. He distributed gifts to everyone and gave generous amounts of wealth to the tribal leaders in the Ḥijāz.
Among the notable figures who died this year was ʿĀṣim b. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb al-Qurashī al-ʿAdawī. His mother’s name was Jamīla bint Thābit b. Abī al-Aflāḥ. ʿĀṣim was born during the lifetime of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He narrated only the following hadith from his father: “When the night begins to come from this direction.”
His sons Ḥafṣ and ʿAbdullāh, as well as ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr, narrated hadith from him. His father had divorced his mother. His grandmother, Shamus bint Abī ʿĀmir, took her divorced daughter to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and said to him: “Her fragrance and gentleness are more beloved to me than yours.”
When ʿUmar married ʿĀṣim during his caliphate, he provided him with maintenance from the bayt al-māl (public treasury) for a month. Afterwards, he stopped this maintenance and gave him capital from his own wealth, commanding him to engage in trade and thus provide for his family.
According to multiple narrators, there was a dispute over a piece of land between ʿĀṣim and al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn. When ʿĀṣim realized that al-Ḥasan was angered by the matter, he said: “Let the land be yours.” Al-Ḥasan replied: “No, no, let it be yours.” Both of them abandoned the land, and neither touched it again. None of their children laid claim to the land either. Later, people began to take portions from every side of that land.
ʿĀṣim was a leader, dignified, noble, and virtuous. According to the account of Wakīʿ, he died in Medina in the seventieth year of the Hijra.