I then asked, “And who is your master?” The two drew themselves up proudly above me and replied in one voice, “Khālid ibn Yazīd.”⦗1⦘
Khālid was put forward for the caliphate when his brother Muʿāwiyah died, yet the matter was never concluded; Marwān secured power on the understanding that Khālid would be his heir-apparent.
It is reported that ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān once threatened Khālid and tried to overpower him. Khālid retorted, “Do you threaten me while the hand of Allah above you protects me, and His bounty beneath you is lavished upon me?!”⦗2⦘
Al-Aṣmaʿī said: Khālid ibn Yazīd was asked, “What is the nearest thing?” He answered, “The appointed term of life.” He was asked, “What is the farthest thing?” He replied, “Hope.” He was asked, “What is the most promising thing?” He said, “Righteous deeds.”⦗3⦘
He also said, “When a man is obstinate, argumentative, and enamoured of his own opinion, his ruin is complete.”⦗3⦘
Ibn Khallikān⦗4⦘ stated: “Khālid was knowledgeable in alchemy and authored three treatises on the subject, yet this is not established.”
It is said that he died in 84 or 85 AH; others say in 90 AH.
155 – Al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah Ẓālim al-Azdī * (D, T, S)
The emir, the champion, leader of battalions, Abū Saʿīd al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah Ẓālim.