, Abu Hurayrah, Ibn ʿAbbas, Zayd ibn Thabit, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, al-Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah, Usamah ibn Zayd, Muʿawiyah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs—and his son ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr—Umm Haniʾ bint Abi Talib, Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah, Hakim ibn Hizam, Ibn ʿUmar, and many others.
Among those who transmitted from him were his own sons—Yahya, ʿUthman, Hisham, and Muhammad—as well as Sulayman ibn Yasar, Abu Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, Ibn Shihab, Safwan ibn Sulaym, Bakr ibn Sawadah, Yazid ibn Abi Habib, Abu al-Zinad, Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, Abu al-Aswad Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman (who had been an orphan under ʿUrwah’s care), Salih ibn Kaysan, his grandson ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUrwah, his nephew Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, and many others besides them.
Khalifah (1) said: “ʿUrwah was born in the year 23 AH.” This is a strong view, although some say he was born later. Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah said: “He was born six years after ʿUthman assumed the caliphate.” On another occasion (2) he said: “He was born in the year 29 AH,” and this is supported by what Hisham ibn ʿUrwah narrated from his father: “I remember that my father al-Zubayr used to bounce me on his knee and say:
A blessed child from the line of the Truthful One,
Fairer than the house of Abu ʿAtiq;
I relish him as I relish my own saliva. (3)
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said: Muhammad ibn al-Dahhak narrated to us, saying: “ʿUrwah said: ‘While still a boy I stood watching those who had besieged ʿUthman—may Allah be pleased with him—and he had already set out…’”