It is narrated from Muslim bin Abi Hurrah that he said: When (Sayyiduna) Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) was besieged and the people of Syria had posted guards at the gates of the Mosque, he heard two of his freed slaves behind him saying something. He turned towards them and said: "No one has searched through the books as much as I have. I have read the books and heard the hadiths, and I found everything to be false except what is in the Book of Allah." The narrator says: Then he went out and kissed the Black Stone, then he went in to his mother, Sayyidah Asma' (may Allah be pleased with her), and kissed her on the forehead. She asked: What is this noise that I hear? She was told that it was the people of Syria (their army). She asked: Are they all Muslims? It was said: Yes, that is what they claim. She said: I have seen Islam (at a time) when, if they had all gathered over a single goat, they would not have been able to eat it (in such a crowd). Then she said: "O my son! Die with honour, but never surrender." Sayyiduna Abdullah asked: Where are the people of Egypt? He was told that they were at the gate of Banu Jumah, and that was the gate where the fighting was fiercest. He charged at them and they fell back as far as the market. The narrator says: Khubayb was striking them with his sword from behind and saying: "Charge!", and no one would come forward to face him. Then he charged again and they fell back. When they saw this, they sent forward a black man so that he could strike him by deception. That man entered between the curtains of the Ka'bah. When Sayyiduna Abdullah came near him, he came out, and he (Ibn al-Zubayr) struck him such a blow that it cut off both his legs. The man kept trying to raise himself with support, then he fell. He paid no attention to him, until a stone came and struck him near his ear, so that he fell, and the people martyred him. This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.