They counter-argued with what is authentically recorded in the two Ṣaḥīḥs on the authority of Usāmah ibn Zayd, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “A disbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim, nor a Muslim from a disbeliever.” (1)

The point, then, is that Muʿādh served in Yemen as the Prophet’s judge, commander in military affairs, and the appointed collector to whom the alms were delivered, as the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās cited earlier makes clear. He also appeared publicly to lead the people in the five daily prayers, as al-Bukhārī relates (2):

Sulaimān ibn Ḥarb narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, that when Muʿādh arrived in Yemen he led them in the dawn prayer and recited, “And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend” (al-Nisāʾ 4:125). One of the congregation exclaimed, “How delighted Abraham’s mother must be!” (3) Al-Bukhārī alone reports this wording.

Al-Bukhārī also said (4):

Chapter: The Prophet ﷺ sending ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Khālid ibn al-Walīd to Yemen before the Farewell Pilgrimage.

Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us; Shurayḥ ibn Maslamah narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf ibn Isḥāq ibn Abī Isḥāq narrated to us; my father narrated to me, from Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib say:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent us with Khālid ibn al-Walīd to Yemen. Later he sent ʿAlī in his place and said, ‘Tell Khālid’s men: whoever wishes to remain on with you may do so, and whoever wishes to return may return.’ (5) I was among those who stayed, and I came away with a considerable number of silver awqiyyahs. (6)”

Al-Bukhārī alone records this through this chain.