Those who narrated from him were: Bukayr ibn al-Ashajj, Ibn ʿAjlān, Ibn Isḥāq, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Ghasīl, and a number of others.

Abū Zurʿah, al-Nasāʾī, and others declared him trustworthy.

He was an authority on the accounts of the Prophet’s campaigns (maghāzī); Ibn Isḥāq relied on him extensively.

He passed away in 119 AH. It is also said that he died in 120, which is sounder; some place his death in 126 or 127 AH.

His grandfather was one of the eminent Companions—the man whose eye the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, restored so that, by Allah’s permission, it returned exactly as it had been.

103 – Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Umayyad * (d)

The valorous emir, commander of the armies, Abū Saʿīd—also known as Abū al-Aṣbaġ—an Umayyad from Damascus.

He was nicknamed “al-Jarādah al-Ṣafrāʾ” (“the Yellow Locust”).

Yahyā ibn Yahyā al-Ghassānī and Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated from him, and he has a hadith recorded in Sunan Abī Dāwūd.

He achieved memorable feats against the Byzantines; he was the one who led the campaign against Constantinople. Blessing accompanied his banner. He governed Iraq on behalf of his brother Yazīd, and later Armenia.

Al-Layth said: “In 109 AH Maslamah campaigned against the Turks and Sind.”

Khalīfah (1) said: “Maslamah died in 120 AH.”

I say: He was more deserving of the caliphate than any of his brothers.

Concerning him Abū Nukhaylah composed:

O Maslamah, son of the finest caliph,
O knight of battle, O mountain of the earth!
I thank you—for gratitude is a cord of piety—
but not everyone upon whom you bestow a favor keeps silent.