Ibn Masʿūd, instructing him, “Keep silent about these words: ‘The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ, and the worst of matters are those newly introduced.’”
68 – ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī, Abū al-Walīd (D, Q)
A Companion of the Prophet ﷺ.
He settled in Ḥimṣ, in Syria.
He transmitted a number of hadiths.
Those who narrated from him include his son Yahyā, Khālid ibn Maʿdān, Rāshid ibn Saʿd, Luqmān ibn ʿĀmir, ʿĀmir ibn Zayd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Nāsiḥ al-Ḥaḍramī, and others.
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh reported, on the authority of Ḍamḍam ibn Zurʿah, from Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd, who said:
ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd related, “Whenever the Prophet ﷺ encountered a name he disliked, he would change it. We came to him—nine men from Banū Sulaym, the eldest of us being al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah—and we all pledged allegiance to him.” ⦗1⦘
He also said, “My name was once ʿAtalah, but the Prophet ﷺ renamed me ʿUtbah.” ⦗2⦘
Al-Wāqidī said: “ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd lived for ninety-four years.”
(*) Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt, vol. 7, p. 413; Khalīfah, Ṭabaqāt, nos. 348 and 2834; al-Bukhārī, al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr, vol. 6, p. 521; al-Fasawī, al-Maʿrifah wa-l-Tārīkh, vol. 1, p. 340; Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl, vol. 6, p. 371; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, p. 1031; Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ, vol. 2, p. 15; Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh, vol. 11, fol. 28a; Ibn al-Athīr, Usud al-Ghābah, vol. 3, p. 563; al-Mizzī, Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, p. 905; al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh al-Islām, vol. 3, p. 282; idem, al-ʿIbar, vol. 1, p. 103; Ibn Ḥajar, Tadhhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 3, fol. 26b; al-Yāfiʿī, Mirʾāt al-Jinān, vol. 1, p. 22; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah, vol. 9, p. 73; Ibn Ḥajar, al-Iṣābah, vol. 2, p. 454; idem, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 7, p. 98; al-Khazrajī, Khulāṣat Tadhhīb al-Kamāl, p. 218; Ibn al-ʿImād, Shadharāt al-Dhahab, vol. 1, pp. 97–98, where he is named ʿUtbah b. ʿUbayd.
(1) The isnād is sound; al-Haythamī cites it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 8, pp. 51–52, attributes it to al-Ṭabarānī, and notes: “Its narrators are trustworthy, though some are subject to minor disagreement.” It is also found in Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh, vol. 11, fol. 29b.
(2) Reported by Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh, vol. 11, fol. 29b; Ibn Ḥajar, al-Iṣābah, vol. 2, p. 454; and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, vol. 3, [page number not given].