seventy steps. When I had finished them, they gave way, and this year I have completed seventy full years.’ He died that very year (1).

Al-Wāqidī relates: Muḥammad ibn Bishr ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, from his father, who said:

Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah said, ‘Commander of the Believers, a messenger has just arrived and informed us that Khārijah ibn Zayd has died.’ ʿUmar thereupon said, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return,’ struck one hand against the other, and declared, ‘By Allah, this is a breach in Islam (2).’

Al-Fallās and Ibn Numayr said: ‘Khārijah died in the year 99 AH.’

Al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī, Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, Khalīfah ibn al-Madīnī, and several others said: ‘He died in the year 100 AH.’

Abū ʿUbayd said: ‘Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm led the funeral prayer over him (3).’

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mardāwī informed us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Khalaf narrated to us, and Ibn ʿAlawn likewise, and al-Bahāʾ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said:

Shuhdah the Scribe informed us: Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Salām narrated to us: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Barqānī told us: I read before Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb, who said, ‘Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Shāmī has informed you: Khalaf ibn Hishām told us: Ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated, from his father, from Khārijah ibn Zayd, from his father, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered me to learn the script of the Jews. Not even half a month had passed before I had mastered it. I used to write his letters to them when he wrote to them, and when they wrote to him I would read their letters aloud to him.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded the report in suspended form, saying: ‘And Khārijah narrated it from his father (4).’