Abu Dawud said: “Muhammad ibn ʿAʾidh—may God decree as He wills—once said to me, ‘What is it that you write from me? I am the one learning from you!’

Al-Nasa’i states in al-Kuna: ‘Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn ʿAʾidh—there is no fault in him.’ In another passage he gives his kunyah as Abu ʿAbd Allah, and that is the established version.

Muhammad ibn al-Fayd al-Ghassani said: ‘Muhammad ibn ʿAʾidh al-Qurashi died in Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 232 AH, and I attended his funeral.’

Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Bakkar said: ‘He died in the year 233.’

Abu Zurʿa said: ‘He died in the year 234, and he was born in 150 AH.’

I say: He compiled the Kitab al-Maghazi (Book of Military Expeditions)—I have heard most of it—as well as the Kitab al-Futuh wa al-Sawaʾif (Book of Conquests and Summer Raids)(1).

He was also in charge of the land-tax for the Ghuta of Damascus.

A very elevated chain has reached me:

Abu al-Maʿali Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Abarquhi informed us; al-Fath ibn ʿAbd al-Salam informed us; Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn ʿUmar the judge, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Tara’ifi, and Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Dayyah informed us, saying:

Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muʿaddal informed us; ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Zuhri informed us; Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ʿAʾidh al-Dimashqi narrated to us; al-Haytham ibn Humayd narrated to us; al-Wadin ibn ʿAtaʾ narrated to us, from Yazid ibn Mazid, who said:

The Antichrist (al-Dajjal) was mentioned in a gathering in which Abu al-Dardaʾ was present. Nauf al-Bikali remarked, “There is someone other than the Antichrist whom I fear more than the Antichrist.”

Abu al-Dardaʾ asked, “Who is that?”

He replied, “I fear that my faith might be stripped from me without my realizing it.”

Abu al-Dardaʾ said, “May your mother be bereaved of you, son of—”