Ziyad assembled the people of Kufa in order to subject them to anti-‘Alid propaganda. [This was during the month of Ramadan in the year 53 A.H./August 673 CE]. The mosque was filled, and the courtyard, and the fortified castle. ‘Abd al-Rahman said:
"I was with a group of my fellow Ansaris when, amid the tumult, I fell asleep. And in my sleep I saw something with a long neck coming toward me. It had long lashes and pendulous lips like a camel's. 'What are you?!' I said.
"It said, 'I am al-Nufād Dhu 'l-Ruqba (The Die-Off With a Neck), and I was sent to the occupant of this castle.' I awoke with a jolt, and asked my fellows, 'Did you see what I just saw?'
"'No,' they said, so I told them. [Just then,] a representative of the palace came out and said to us, 'The commander says: "Please take your leave of me. I am indisposed and cannot see you."' For the plague had struck him." And ‘Abd al-Rahman declaimed these verses (meter: basīṭ):
His plans for us were not yet complete
when the Long-Necked Die-Off came for him:
the demonic counterpart of the courtyard's master
whose blow was equal to the master's oppression.
I am informed by al-Jariri on the authority of al-‘Ukbari that ‘Ali b. Husayn said: It was reported to me by Muhammad b. al-Qasim b. Mahdi that he was informed by ‘Ali b. Ahmad b. Abi Qays of what Abu Bakr al-Qurashi had said. He said: It was told to me by Sa‘id b. Yahya, on the authority of his uncle ‘Abd Allah b. Sa‘id, that Ziyad b. ‘Abd Allah was told by [Abu] ‘Awana: I am informed by ‘Abd al-Rahman b. al-Husayn that al-Qasim b. Sulayman said:
When plague first came to Kufa, Ziyad left town. Then, when it lifted, he returned. And that is when the plague presented in [the blackening of] one of his fingers.
Sulaym said: "At his summons I went to him. He said to me, 'Oh, Sulaym, do you feel the heat that I am feeling?' 'No,' I said. He said, 'By God, the heat I feel in my body is like fire.'"
One hundred and fifty doctors were assembled around him, including three from Chosroes's court. Sulaym drew one of Chosroes's doctors aside and asked for his prognosis, The doctor told him what Ziyad had, and that he was dying. And the plague took him just as the doctor had advised.
