Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī transmit—through the chain of Abū ʿAttāb Sahl ibn Ḥammād al-Dallāl, from Abū Makīn Nūḥ ibn Rabīʿah, from Iyās ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Muʿayqib, from his grandfather, who was in charge of the Prophet’s signet ring—that he said:

“The Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ ring was made of twisted iron plated with silver, and it would sometimes be in my hand.”

I say: The sound report is that the Prophet’s ﷺ ring was of pure silver, its bezel fashioned from the same piece, as will be detailed in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Before that he had made a gold ring, wore it for a while, then cast it away, declaring, “By Allah, I shall never wear it again.” He thereafter fashioned this silver ring—bezel and all of one metal—and had engraved upon it:

“Muḥammad” on one line,
“Messenger” on a second,
“Allah” on a third.

It remained on his blessed hand ﷺ; after him it passed to Abū Bakr, then to ʿUmar, and then to ʿUthmān, who kept it for six years until it slipped from his hand and fell into the well of Arīs. He strove hard to recover it but could not.

Abū Dāwūd—may Allah have mercy on him—devoted a separate section of his Sunan solely to the subject of the ring, and, if Allah wills, we shall soon quote from it whatever we require. In Allah do we seek help.

Muʿayqib’s wearing of this ring, moreover, weakens the report that he contracted leprosy, as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr and others have mentioned, although the story is well known. Perhaps the disease struck him only after the Prophet ﷺ, or it was a non-contagious form, or it was one of the Prophet’s special distinctions born of the strength of his trust in Allah—for he once said to a leper, while placing his own hand in the same dish, “Eat, trusting in Allah and relying upon Him,” as narrated by Abū Dāwūd. It is also authentically reported in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Flee from the leper as you would flee from a lion.” Allah knows best.

As for the commanders he ﷺ appointed, we have already listed them by name when discussing the dispatch of the various expeditions; all praise and favor belong to Allah.

Regarding the total number of Companions, scholars have differed. Abū Zurʿah said that they reached one hundred thousand