and she said, “They will soon notice that I am missing.”

When Safwān arrived he saw her—he had known her from before the command to veil, which had been revealed about a year earlier. He exclaimed, “Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we return!” and spoke no other word. He made his camel kneel, mounted her upon it, and set off leading the animal until they caught up with the people, who were camped in the heat of the forenoon. It was then that the slander-mongers began to speak, displaying their ignorance, until Allah sent down the verses proclaiming her innocence (1)—praise belongs to Allah.

Safwān used to say, “Never in my life have I uncovered the privacy of any woman” (2).

Two hadiths are reported from him. Among those who transmitted from him are Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Saʿīd al-Maqburī, and Salām Abū ʿĪsā, but their reports are mursal; in my view they did not meet him, assuming he died in 19 AH.

Ibn Saʿd said: “Safwān ibn al-Muʿaṭṭal accepted Islam before the campaign of al-Muraysīʿ (3) and served as the rear-guard of the Prophet ﷺ …” until he stated: “He died at Sumaysāṭ (4) toward the end of Muʿāwiyah’s caliphate; Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar informed me of that.”
Khalīfah said: “He died in the vicinity of Sumaysāṭ in al-Jazīrah, and his grave is there.”