Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said:
A delegation from Banū Ḥanīfah came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and among them was Musaylimah ibn Thumāmah ibn Kathīr ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥārith ibn Hiffān ibn Dhuhl ibn al-Dūl ibn Ḥanīfah. His kunya was Abū Thumāmah—some say Abū Hārūn. He had assumed the name al-Raḥmān, so he was called “the Raḥmān of al-Yamāmah.” When he was killed he was one hundred and fifty years old. He knew certain feats of sorcery: he could insert an egg into the mouth of a flask—he was the first to do so—clip a bird’s wing and then restore it, and he claimed that a gazelle would come down from the mountain for him to milk.

I say: We shall mention further details of his story when we recount his death—may Allah curse him.

Ibn Isḥāq also said: Their lodging was in the house of the daughter of al-Ḥārith, a woman of the Anṣār from Banū al-Najjār. One of our scholars in Madinah told me that Banū Ḥanīfah brought Musaylimah to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while covering him with cloaks. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting among his Companions holding a palm rib whose tip was wrapped with strips of palm leaf. When they reached him, still screening Musaylimah, the Prophet spoke with him and questioned him, then said, “Even if you were to ask me for this palm rib, I would not give it to you.”

Ibn Isḥāq continued: An elder of Banū Ḥanīfah from al-Yamāmah related a different version. He claimed that the delegation came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and left Musaylimah behind in their camp. After they had embraced Islam they mentioned him, saying, “Messenger of Allah, we have left a companion in the tents with our baggage to guard it.” The Prophet ﷺ ordered that he be given the same gifts as the rest of them and said, “Indeed, he is not the least of you in standing”—meaning, because he was safeguarding his companions’ property.

The delegation then departed, brought Musaylimah what the Prophet ﷺ had allotted him, and when they reached al-Yamāmah the enemy of Allah apostatized, claimed prophethood, and lied to them, saying, “I have been made a partner with him in this matter.” He told his companions, “Did he not say to you when you mentioned me, ‘Indeed, he is not the least of you in standing’? He said that only because he knew I had been made his partner in the affair.” He then began to recite rhymed prose imitating the Qur’an, saying among other things:

“Allah has indeed favored the pregnant woman:
He brought forth from her a living soul that moves
between the abdomen and the womb.”

He declared wine and fornication lawful for them and relieved them of the prayer, while still testifying that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had been sent. Nevertheless, Banū Ḥanīfah unanimously followed him in that.