and I asked him, “Who was the shaykh?” He answered, “ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh.”

Al-Zubayr said: The mother of Abū al-ʿAmayṭar was Nafīsa, daughter of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.

It was reported that he used to boast, declaring, “I am the son of the two shaykhs of Ṣiffīn.” (1)

They also relate that on one occasion he asked, “What is the kunya of the ḥirḍawn (lizard)? (2)” We replied, “We do not know.” He said, “Abū al-ʿAmayṭar.” So we fastened the nickname on him, and it made him angry.

Abū Zurʿah al-Naṣrī narrated from his father, who said: Abū al-ʿAmayṭar would vaunt himself, saying, “I am the son of the ʿīr (caravan), the son of the nafīr (general call to arms), and the son of the two shaykhs of Ṣiffīn…” after which he would cite his lineage.

It was also said that he lived in al-Mizzah and marched out from there when he was ninety years old.

Ibn Jawṣā reported: Mūsā ibn ʿĀmir told us, “I heard al-Walīd ibn Muslim more than once say, ‘If nothing of the year 195 AH remained save a single day, the Sufyānī would surely appear.’” Mūsā added, “So Abū al-ʿAmayṭar emerged that very year.” Hishām ibn ʿAmmār transmitted a similar report from al-Walīd.

Al-Maymūnī said: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal asked al-Haytham ibn Khārijah, “How did the Sufyānī rise in Damascus during the days of Ibn Zubaydah, after Sulaymān ibn Abī Jaʿfar?” Al-Haytham described him as first having a handsome bearing and an aversion to evil, but later becoming oppressive. They pressed him time and again to revolt, yet he refused. Consequently, Khattāb ibn Wajh al-Fuls dug a tunnel for him; they slipped into it by night and called to him, “Come out, the time appointed for you has arrived!” He replied, “That is a devil!” On the second night, however, the thought took hold of him and he came out. Aḥmad remarked, “They corrupted him.”