He was the beloved of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his freedman, and the son of his freedman. He was also known as Abū Zayd; some called him Abū Muḥammad, others Abū Ḥārithah, and yet others Abū Yazīd.
The Prophet ﷺ appointed him to command an expedition toward Syria, in which ʿUmar and other senior Companions were enrolled. The force had not yet set out when the Messenger of Allah passed away; Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq promptly dispatched them, and they raided Ubna in the region of al-Balqāʾ.
Another report says that he fought at Muʿtah alongside his father. He lived for a time in al-Mizzah⦗1⦘, then returned to Medina, where he died; some, however, maintain that he died at Wādī al-Qurā.
Those who transmitted hadith from him include Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿAbbās, Abū Wāʾil, Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, Abū Salamah, Abū Saʿīd al-Maqburī, ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd, Abū Ẓabyān, ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, several others, and his two sons, Ḥasan and Muḥammad.
A sound report from Usāmah states: “The Prophet ﷺ would take me and al-Ḥasan together and say, ‘O Allah, I love these two, so love them as well.’”⦗2⦘
= Khalifa, Tabaqat, 6/297; Khalifa, Tarikh, pp. 100, 226; al-Bukhari, al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 2/20; Ibn Qutayba, al-Maʿarif, pp. 144-145, 164, 166; al-Fasawi, Tarikh, 1/304; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil, 2/283; al-Tabarani, al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, 1/120, 144; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 3/596; al-Istibsar, pp. 34, 87; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istihab, 1/75; Ibn ʿAsakir, 2/341/1; Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-Ghaba, 1/79; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, p. 78; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 1/50, 208; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 2/270; idem, al-ʿIbar, 1/59; al-Haythami, Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, 9/286; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 1/54; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, p. 26; al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Kanz al-ʿUmmal, 13/270; Ibn ʿAsakir, Tahdhib Ibn ʿAsakir, 2/394, 402; al-Dhahabi, Siyar, 2/32.
(1) Al-Mazza is a village about three miles south-west of Damascus; it has now merged with the city and become a residential district.
(2) Related by al-Bukhari, 7/70, in the chapter “Virtues of the Prophet’s Companions,” through the chain: Musa b. Ismail – al-Muʿtamir – his father – Abu ʿUthman al-Nahdi – Usama b. Zayd. Also in Musnad Ahmad, 5/210, and Ibn Saʿd, 4/62.