and Ḥabīb (1) ibn Zayd; Ḥabīb ibn ʿAmr ibn Muḥṣin; Thābit ibn Khālid; Furwah ibn al-Nuʿmān; ʿĀʾidh ibn Māʿṣ; and Yazīd ibn Thābit ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the brother of Zayd ibn Thābit.
Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ (2) said: “Altogether, fifty-eight men from the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār were martyred on the Day of al-Yamāmah—meaning that the rest of the four hundred and fifty who were killed came from other groups, and Allah knows best.”
As for the disbelievers, in the engagements we have just described—this one and those that immediately preceded it—more than fifty thousand of them were slain. All praise and favor belong to Allah; with Him lies success and protection.
Among their most notorious figures were:
• al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī—may Allah curse him—whose name was ʿAbhalah ibn Kaʿb ibn Ghawth. He launched his first revolt from a Yemeni town called Kahf Khubān with seven hundred fighters. Within a month he had seized Ṣanʿāʾ, and in the shortest time Yemen in its entirety submitted to him (3). A devil would assist him, perfecting his schemes, yet deserted him when he needed it most. Before three or four months had passed, Allah caused him to be killed at the hands of loyal brothers and righteous commanders, as mentioned earlier: Dādawayh the Persian, Fayrūz al-Daylamī, and Qays ibn Makshūḥ al-Murādī. This occurred in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the year 11 AH, a few nights—some say a single night—before the death of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Allah knows best.
Allah informed His Messenger of al-Aswad’s death on the very night it occurred, as we have already noted.
• Musaylimah ibn Ḥabīb, the liar from Yamāmah. He came to Madinah as a delegate to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ together with his tribe, Banū Ḥanīfah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ met him and overheard him saying, “If Muḥammad grants me authority after him, I will follow him.” The Prophet replied, “If you were to ask me for this twig”—a dried date-palm stalk he was holding—“I would not give it to you. And if you turn away, Allah will surely destroy you, and I believe you are the one I was shown in—”