The illustrious figure, known by the kunyas Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Abū ʿUthmān, al-Qurashī al-Zuhrī.

His mother was ʿĀtikah—sister of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf—and she too belonged to the Zuhrah clan.

He enjoyed the Prophet’s companionship and transmitted hadith.

He is numbered among the younger Companions, alongside the likes of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr and Ibn al-Zubayr.

He also narrated from his maternal uncle, as well as from Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān.

Those who related from him include ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, ʿUrwah, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, Ibn Abī Mulaykah, ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, his two children—ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Umm Bakr—and a host of others.

He reached Damascus as a courier sent by ʿUthmān, imploring Muʿāwiyah for assistance.

He was one of those who kept close company with ʿUmar and committed his statements to memory.

Later he sided with Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, disapproving of Yazīd’s rule, and during the siege a catapult stone struck him (1).

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār said: “The Khārijites used to visit him and claimed him as one of their own.”

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: “Miswar is reliable.”

ʿUqayl narrated—from Ibn Shihāb—from ʿUrwah—that al-Miswar informed him he had gone to Muʿāwiyah, who said, “O Miswar! What has become of your attacks on the leaders?”

He replied, “Leave that aside, and act kindly concerning the matter for which we have come.”

Muʿāwiyah said, “You must speak to me personally about the very faults you find in me.”

He said, “I left nothing out; I made everything clear.”

Muʿāwiyah then said, “I do not claim to be free of sin. Do you reckon for us the reforms we undertake for the common folk, or do you merely count the sins and ignore the acts of kindness?”

I said, “Yes.”