ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm said, “I heard ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh relate—from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—that he was with Sufyān in the presence of ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār. ʿIkrimah began to dictate while Sufyān wrote, so I said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, hand it over so I may copy it.’ He replied, ‘Do not rush.’ I said, ‘Take the notebook and ask him about it.’ He answered, ‘Do not be hasty; we shall pause after every report to confirm it was actually heard.’ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān added: ‘Sufyān’s handwriting was dreadful.’
ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm also said, ‘I heard Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb say: ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār came to us from al-Yamāmah, and I saw him up on a rooftop debating the Qadariyyah (those who denied divine predestination).’
Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh said, ‘I heard ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār say to the people: “I place a strict injunction on any man who espouses the Qadar doctrine: let him stand up and leave me, for I will not transmit ḥadith to him.”’
Khalīfah and Ibn Maʿīn said, ‘He died in 159 AH.’ Yaḥyā added, ‘In the month of Rajab.’
I have obtained his narrations with an elevated chain. ⦗1⦘
He said, “Yes.”
He then added: “I possess the finest and most beautiful woman among the Arabs—Umm Habiba bint Abi Sufyan. Shall I marry her to you?” He replied, “Yes.”
He continued: “Will you appoint Muawiya to sit before you as your scribe?” He replied, “Yes.”
He then said: “And will you give me command so that I may fight the unbelievers as I once fought the Muslims?” He replied, “Yes.”
Abu Zamil commented: “Had he not requested these things from the Prophet, peace be upon him, he would not have been granted them, for whenever he asked for something the Prophet answered, ‘Yes.’”
Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi remarked about this hadith: “It is undoubtedly an error introduced by one of the transmitters. The narrator Ikrima ibn Ammar has been accused of it. We say it is a mistake because all historians agree that Umm Habiba was married to Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh, bore him a child, and that the two of them migrated as Muslims to Abyssinia. He then became a Christian while Umm Habiba remained firm in her faith. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, therefore wrote to the Negus asking for her hand; the Negus married her to him and paid, on his behalf, a dowry of four thousand dirhams in the seventh year after the Hijra. Abu Sufyan came during the truce—that between the Prophet and Quraysh established at the Treaty of Hudaybiyya—entered her house, and she folded up the Prophet’s bedding so that he would not sit on it. It is unanimously agreed that Abu Sufyan and Muawiya embraced Islam only at the Conquest of Mecca in the eighth year, and there is no report that the Messenger of Allah ever appointed Abu Sufyan to any office.”
(1) The original manuscript reads “hadithan ‘aliyan,” which is a scribal error.