Aslam relates that ʿUmar struck his son ʿUbayd Allāh with a small whip and said, “Do you style yourself Abū ʿĪsā? Has Jesus ever had a father!”

We have already mentioned that when ʿUmar was killed, ʿUbayd Allāh seized his father’s sword, attacked al-Hurmuzān and killed him, and then slew Jufayna and Luʾluʾah, the daughter of Abū Luʾluʾah. When ʿUthmān received the oath of allegiance he intended to put him to death but later pardoned him. ʿAlī had advised ʿUthmān to execute him, so when ʿAlī himself became caliph ʿUbayd Allāh fled to Syria. He led Muʿāwiyah’s vanguard at Ṣiffīn and was killed that very day. Some say ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir killed him; others say it was a man from Hamdān. An eloquent elegy was composed for him.

Abū Faḍālah al-Anṣārī, a veteran of Badr, was killed at Ṣiffīn fighting beside ʿAlī. This report is found only in the narration of Muḥammad ibn Rāshid from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, and neither of the two is deemed reliable.

Abū ʿAmrah al-Anṣārī—Bashīr ibn ʿAmr ibn Muḥṣin al-Khazrajī al-Najjārī; some say his given name was Bashīr, others Thaʿlabah, and others ʿAmr—was an elder Companion who fought at Badr. Al-Nasāʾī records hadiths on his authority, and those who narrated from him include his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah. Ibn Saʿd states that he too was killed at Ṣiffīn on ʿAlī’s side.

Year 38 AH

During this year Muʿāwiyah dispatched from Syria ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥaḍramī with an army to seize Basra, where Ziyād ibn Abīh was acting on behalf of ʿAlī. Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī encamped among the Banū Tamīm, while Ziyād shifted to the Azd and took quarters with Ṣubrah ibn Shaymān.