Ibn Mandah said, “He conquered Isfahan in the time of ʿUmar” (1).
Al-ʿIjli stated, “ʿUmar appointed him governor of Basra; there he taught the people Qur’anic recitation and jurisprudence. He also led the conquest of Tustar, and no Companion possessed a more beautiful voice than his” (2).
Husayn al-Muʿallim related: “I heard Ibn Buraydah say, ‘The Ashʿari was short, snub-nosed, and slight of build’” (3).
Al-Waqidi, however, reported: Khalid ibn Ilyas narrated to us from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Jahm, who said, “Abū Mūsā was neither one of the emigrants to Abyssinia nor allied to Quraysh. He had embraced Islam in Mecca and then returned to his homeland, until he and a group of Ashʿarites came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ” (4).
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, nonetheless, listed him among those who migrated to Abyssinia (5).
Abū Burdah transmitted from Abū Mūsā, who said: “We set out from Yemen—some fifty-odd people from my tribe. We were three brothers: myself, Abū Ruhm, and Abū ʿĀmir. Our ship brought us to the Negus, where we found Jaʿfar and his companions; then we headed on when it was opened…”