He was the son of Umm Ayman Barakah and the maternal half-brother of Usāmah ibn Zayd. Ibn Isḥāq states: “He was in charge of the Prophet’s ablution water and was among those who stood firm on the Day of Ḥunayn.” It is also said that the verse, “So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness and never associate anyone with the worship of his Lord” (al-Kahf 18:110), was revealed concerning him and his companions.

Imām al-Shāfiʿī relates that Ayman was killed alongside the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Ḥunayn, adding that, for this reason, the report of Mujāhid from him is disconnected (munqaṭiʿ). He refers to the narration transmitted by Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Manṣūr, from Mujāhid, from ʿAṭāʾ, in which Ayman the Ethiopian said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not cut off a thief’s hand except for the theft of a shield, and the value of a shield at that time was one dinar.” Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī recorded a similar isnād in Muʿjam al-Ṣaḥābah through Hārūn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, al-Aswad ibn ʿĀmir, al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ, Manṣūr, al-Ḥakam, Mujāhid and ʿAṭāʾ, from Ayman, from the Prophet ﷺ.

If this ḥadīth is not affected by tadlīs, it would imply that Ayman lived on after the Prophet ﷺ; it remains possible, however, that another person was intended. The majority of scholars—among them Ibn Isḥāq—list him among the Companions who were killed on the Day of Ḥunayn, and Allah knows best. His son al-Ḥajjāj ibn Ayman had an incident involving ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar.

Among them is also Bādhām, whose account will be mentioned under the entry for Ṭahmān.

Another of the freedmen is Thawbān ibn Bujdad—also said to be Ibn Jahdar—Abū ʿAbd Allāh; some call him Abū ʿAbd al-Karīm, others Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. He was originally from the region of al-Sarāt between Mecca and Yemen; some say he belonged to Ḥimyar in Yemen, others to Alhān, and still others trace him to al-Ḥakam ibn Saʿd al-ʿAshirah of Madhḥij. Captured in pre-Islamic times, he was purchased by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who then set him free and offered him the choice to return to his people or remain; should he stay, the Prophet told him, he would be counted among the Household. Thawbān chose loyalty to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and did not part from him, whether at home or on journey, until the Prophet ﷺ passed away.

He witnessed the conquest of Egypt during the caliphate of ʿUmar, then settled in Ḥimṣ, built a house there, and remained until his death in 54 AH. Some say 44 AH, but that is incorrect. It is also claimed that he died in Egypt, yet the sound view, as mentioned earlier, is that he died in Ḥimṣ; Allah knows best.

Al-Bukhārī narrated from him in the Book of Manners, Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ, as did the compilers of the four Sunan.