…al-Ṭāhir ibn Abī Hālah over ʿAk ⦗1⦘ and the Ashʿarīs; ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām over Najrān; Ziyād ibn Labīd over the territories of Ḥaḍramawt; ʿUkkāshah ibn Thawr ⦗2⦘ ibn Akhḍar over the Sakāsik and the Sakūn; and ʿAbd Allah ibn Qays over the Banū Muʿāwiyah of Kindah. He also dispatched Muʿādh ibn Jabal as a teacher to the people of the two provinces—Yemen and Ḥaḍramawt—moving from town to town. Sīf ibn ʿUmar records all this, and it took place in the tenth year, toward the end of the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
While affairs stood thus, that accursed man, Aswad al-ʿAnsī ⦗3⦘, suddenly rose up.
The Uprising of Aswad al-ʿAnsī
His given name was ʿAbhala ⦗4⦘ ibn Kaʿb ibn Ghawth, from a place called Kahf Khubān ⦗5⦘. He emerged with seven hundred fighters and wrote to the Prophet’s deputies:
“O you who have rebelled against us, retain for us what you have taken of our land and preserve what you have amassed, for we are more entitled to it. Remain, therefore, as you are.”
He then mounted and marched on Najrān, which he seized ten nights after leaving home, and from there turned toward Ṣanʿāʾ. Shahr ibn Bādhān came out to meet him; they fought, and Aswad defeated and killed him, shattered his army of Abnāʾ, and occupied Ṣanʿāʾ twenty-five nights after his departure.
Muʿādh ibn Jabal fled and, passing Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, the two of them made their way to Ḥaḍramawt. The remaining deputies of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gathered around al-Ṭāhir, while ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām and Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ returned to Madinah. All of Yemen now submitted completely to Aswad al-ʿAnsī, and his influence spread like sparks of fire ⦗6⦘. On the day he fought Shahr his force numbered seven hundred cavalry, and his commanders were Qays ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth, Muʿāwiyah ibn Qays, Yazīd ibn Muḥarram, Yazīd ibn Ḥiṣn al-Ḥārithī, and Yazīd ibn al-Afkal al-Azdī.
His rule became harsh and formidable; many people of Yemen apostatized, and the Muslims there resorted to taqiyya (dissimulation). He appointed ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib as his lieutenant over Madhḥij, entrusted military affairs to Qays ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth, and the affairs of the Abnāʾ to Fayrūz al-Daylamī and Dādūyah. He married the widow of Shahr ibn Bādhān—who was a cousin of Fayrūz al-Daylamī—named Zād. She was strikingly beautiful yet a true believer in Allah and His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, one of the righteous.
Sīf ibn ʿUmar al-Tamīmī ⦗7⦘ relates that, when news of Aswad al-ʿAnsī reached him, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent a letter with a man called Wabr ibn Yuḥannas al-Daylamī, commanding the Muslims there to fight and confront Aswad al-ʿAnsī. Muʿādh ibn Jabal carried out the instructions of that letter to perfection. He had married a woman of the Sakūn tribe named Ramlah, who stood firmly by his side.