 He later fought them in Sistan in 653/54, during the reign of Caliph Uthman ().In 656, during the reign of Caliph Ali (), al-Muhallab and his father were moved to Basra.Though in the reports cited by 9th-century historians al-Tabari and al-Awtabi, Ali declared Abu Sufra the chief of Azd, the modern historian Patricia Crone holds that "neither Abu Sufra nor al-Muhallab ever held" the chieftainship of the Basran Azd.