Ibn Isḥāq said(1): Allah knows best which of the two accounts is correct.

Al-Suhaylī(2) and others relate that al-Rajjāl ibn ʿUnfuwah—whose given name was Nahār ibn ʿUnfuwah—had embraced Islam, memorized some portions of the Qur’an, and kept the company of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a time. The Prophet ﷺ once passed by him while he was sitting with Abū Hurayrah and Furāt ibn Ḥayyān and said to them,

“One of you will have a molar in the Fire the size of Mount Uḥud.”

They remained in fear until al-Rajjāl later apostasized alongside Musaylimah, falsely testifying that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had shared the mission with him. He also handed over to Musaylimah some of what he had memorized of the Qur’an, which Musaylimah then claimed as his own revelation. This caused a great tribulation for Banū Ḥanīfah. Zayd ibn al-Khaṭṭāb eventually killed al-Rajjāl at the battle of al-Yamāmah, as will be mentioned.

Al-Suhaylī(4) adds: Musaylimah’s caller to prayer was a man named Ḥujayr, while the one who directed his military affairs before him was Muḥakkam ibn al-Ṭufayl. They were later joined by Sajāḥ, whose kunyah was Umm Ṣādir; Musaylimah married her, and there are scandalous reports concerning them. Her own muʾadhdhin was Zuhayr ibn ʿAmr—some say Janabah ibn Ṭāriq—and it is also said that Shabath ibn Ribʿī gave the adhān for her as well before he accepted Islam. She herself embraced Islam in the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and her Islam was sound.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr relates from Ibn Isḥāq(5): Musaylimah ibn Ḥabīb once wrote to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “From Musaylimah, the Messenger of Allah, to Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah: Peace be upon you. To proceed: I have been made your partner in this affair. Half of it is ours and half of it is Quraysh’s, but Quraysh are a people who overstep all bounds.”

He dispatched two envoys with this letter. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then wrote back(7):

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Musaylimah the liar: Peace be upon whoever follows guidance. To proceed: The earth belongs to Allah; He causes it to be inherited by whom He wills of His servants, and the ultimate outcome is for the God-fearing.”

He (Ibn Isḥāq) said: This took place toward the end of the tenth year—meaning the arrival of that letter.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr also reports from Ibn Isḥāq(8): Sʿad ibn Ṭāriq told me, on the authority of Salamah ibn Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd, from his father, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when Musaylimah the liar’s two envoys brought his letter, say to them, “And the two of you…"