—no one will so much as touch you; we would sooner give our lives for your sake.” He was martyred at Ajnadayn; others say at Yarmūk—may Allah be pleased with him.
Habbār (1) ibn al-Aswad ibn Asad, Abū al-Aswad, the Qurashi of Banū Asad: this was the man who stabbed the mount of Zaynab, the Prophet’s ﷺ daughter, as she was leaving Mecca, causing her to miscarry. He later embraced Islam, whereupon his faith proved sound, and he was killed at Ajnadayn—may Allah be pleased with him.
Habbār (2) ibn Sufyān ibn ʿAbd al-Asad al-Makhzūmī, the nephew of Umm Salamah: he became Muslim early and emigrated to Abyssinia. The sound report is that he was martyred at Ajnadayn; some maintain he fell at Muʾtah, and Allah knows best.
Hishām (3) ibn al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil al-Sahmī, the brother of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ: al-Tirmidhī relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The two sons of al-ʿĀṣ are believers.” (4) Hishām embraced Islam before ʿAmr and emigrated to Abyssinia; when he returned he remained in Mecca, then emigrated again after the Battle of the Trench. The Ṣiddīq later dispatched him to the Byzantine emperor. He was among the valiant horsemen and was killed at Ajnadayn; some say at Yarmūk, but the first view is stronger, and Allah knows best.
Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq—may Allah be pleased with him—has already been discussed; he has a separate, detailed entry, and all praise is due to Allah.
The Year Fourteen after the Hijrah
This year began while the Caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was urging and inciting the people to fight the inhabitants of Iraq. Word had reached him of Abū ʿUbayd’s death at the Battle of the Bridge, of the Persians having re-gathered their ranks, united under Yazdegerd—whom they had installed from the royal line—and of the People of the Covenant (5) in Iraq breaking their pacts, casting aside the treaties that were upon them, harming the Muslims, and expelling the tax collectors from among them. ʿUmar therefore wrote to the troops stationed there, instructing them to withdraw from the midst of those people and encamp on the frontiers.
Ibn Jarīr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) set out, at the head of the troops, on the first day of Muḥarram of this year and