On this occasion, ʿAbd-al-Malik wrote to his ʿâmil in Makkah, ʿAbdallâh ibn-Sufyân al-Makhzûmi—others say that the poet al-Ḥârith ibn-Ḳhâlid al-Makhzûmi was his ʿâmil—ordering him to build walls without clay around the houses that bordered on the valley, and around the Mosque, and to erect dams at the openings of the roads, so that the houses should be secure. To this effect, he sent a Christian who made the walls and set up the dam known as the banu-Ḳurâd's or banu-Jumaḥ's. Other dams were constructed in lower Makkah. A poet says:
"One drop of tears I shall keep, the other I shall pour forth,
if I pass the dam of the banu-Ḳurâd."
Al-Mukhabbil. Another flood was the one called al-Mukhabbil. When it came, many were afflicted with a disease in their body and palsy in their tongues. Hence the name al-Mukhabbil [rendering some limb crippled].
Abu-Shâkir. Still another flood came later in the caliphate of Hishâm ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik in the year 120. It is known as abu-Shâkir flood after Maslamah ibn-Hishâm, who in that year had charge of the fair [of the pilgrims].
Wâdi-Makkah. The flood of Wâdi-Makkah comes from a place known as Sidrat ʿAttâb ibn-Asîd ibn-abi-l-Îṣ.
The flood in the caliphate of ar-Rashîd. It was reported by ʿAbbâs ibn-Hishâm that a great flood took place in the caliphate of al-Maʾmûm ʿAbdallâh ibn-ar-Rashîd; and its water rose almost as high as the "stone."[3]
