Imām Aḥmad (1) said: ʽAffān related to us, Wahīb related to us, ʽAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥarmalah related to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Hind ibn Ḥārithah—Hind had been one of the Companions at al-Ḥudaybiyyah, and it was his brother Asmāʾ ibn Ḥārithah whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched to instruct his people to fast on the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ—who reported:

Yaḥyā ibn Hind told me, on the authority of Asmāʾ ibn Ḥārithah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent him and said, “Command your people to fast this day.” He asked, “What if I reach them and they have already eaten?” He replied, “Then let them complete the rest of their day fasting.”

This ḥadīth was also transmitted by Aḥmad ibn Khālid al-Wahbī, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (2): “‘Abd Allāh (3) ibn Abī Bakr informed me, from Ḥabīb ibn Hind ibn Asmāʾ al-Aslamī, from his father Hind, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me to a group from the tribe of Aslam and said, ‘Order your people to fast this day; and if you find anyone who has eaten at the beginning of it, let him fast the remainder of it.’”

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (4), citing al-Wāqidī, said: “Muḥammad ibn Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Mujmir narrated to us, from his father, that he heard Abū Hurayrah say, ‘I had always assumed that Hind and Asmāʾ, the two sons of Ḥārithah, were merely bondservants of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’”

Al-Wāqidī added, “The two of them served him constantly, never leaving his doorway, along with Anas ibn Mālik.” Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (5) further recorded: “Asmāʾ ibn Ḥārithah died in Basra in the year 66 AH at the age of eighty.”

Among them was also Bukayr ibn al-Shaddākh al-Laythī (6).

Ibn Mandah reported—through Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Yaʿlā al-Laythī—that Bukayr ibn Shaddākh al-Laythī used to serve the Prophet ﷺ. When he reached puberty, he informed the Messenger of Allah, saying, “Messenger of Allah, I used to enter upon your family, but I have now reached puberty.” He replied, “O Allah, confirm his statement and grant him victory.”

During the caliphate of ʿUmar, a Jewish man was killed. ʿUmar rose to address the people and said, “I adjure by Allah anyone who has knowledge of this to come forward.” Bukayr stood and said, “I killed him, O Commander of the Believers.” ʿUmar said, “You are accountable for his blood; how will you absolve yourself?” He replied, “O Commander of the Believers, a man who had gone out on campaign had left me in charge of his family. I came and found this Jew with his wife, reciting:

A ragged wretch, Islam’s clemency toward me deceived him;
Alone with his bride I spent the perfect night.
I lie upon her breast till dawn, while he
At dusk is led away with reins and straps.”