Al-Muthannā (1) ibn Ḥārithah ibn Salamah ibn Ḍamḍam ibn Saʿd ibn Murrah ibn Dhuhl ibn Shaybān al-Shaybānī was Khalid’s deputy over Iraq. After Abū ʿUbayd fell at the Battle of the Bridge, command devolved upon him; he skilfully maneuvered the Muslim troops and rescued them from the Persians that day. A distinguished horseman, he was also the one who rode to al-Ṣiddīq and urged him (2) to open the Iraqi front. When al-Muthannā died, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ married his widow, Salmā bint Ḥafṣ—may Allah be pleased with him and grant them both His good pleasure. Ibn al-Athīr records his biography in Al-Ghābah (3) fī Asmāʾ al-Ṣaḥābah (4).

Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī al-Najjārī (5) was one of the four Anṣār who had mastered the entire Qur’an during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as affirmed in the ḥadith of Anas ibn Mālik. They were Muʿādh ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Zayd ibn Thābit, and Abū Zayd. Anas said, “He was one of my uncles.”

Al-Kalbī states that this Abū Zayd’s full name was Qays ibn al-Sakan ibn Qays ibn Zaʿūrāʾa ibn Ḥarām (6) ibn Jundub ibn Ghanm (7) ibn ʿAdī ibn al-Najjār; he fought at Badr. Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah relates that he was martyred on the Day of Abū ʿUbayd’s Bridge, which occurred in 14 AH. Some people maintained that the Abū Zayd who collected the Qur’an was Saʿd ibn ʿUbayd, but this view is rejected on the authority of Qatādah’s report from Anas ibn Mālik.

Anas also narrated that the Aws and the Khazraj once boasted against one another. The Aws said, “Among us is the one washed by the angels—Ḥanzalah ibn Abī ʿĀmir; among us is the one whom the bees (8)(9) protected—ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit ibn Abī al-Aflah; among us is the man for whom the Throne of the Most Merciful shook—Saʿd ibn Muʿādh; and among us is the man whose testimony equalled that of two men—Khuzaymah ibn Thābit.”

The Khazraj replied, “Among us are four who compiled the Qur’an (during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ): Ubayy, Zayd ibn Thābit, Muʿādh, and Abū Zayd—may Allah be pleased with them all.”

Abū ʿUbayd ibn Masʿūd (10) ibn ʿAmr al-Thaqafī was the father of al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd, the governor of Iraq, and the father of Ṣafiyyah, the wife of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar.