and to worship You with excellence.” In the Musnad, al-Nasā’ī, and Ibn Mājah (1), through the chain of Abū Qilābah from Anas—raised to the Prophet—the following is reported: “The most knowledgeable among them concerning what is lawful and unlawful is Muʿādh ibn Jabal.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent him to Yemen and asked, “By what will you judge?” He replied, “By the Book of Allah …” —the well-known hadith (2). Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq likewise confirmed him in that office, allowing him to teach the people of Yemen all that is good. He later emigrated to Syria and remained there until he died, after Abū ʿUbaydah, when struck by the plague, appointed him as his successor; Muʿādh himself was then stricken the same year.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said, “Muʿādh will be raised ahead of the scholars by a stride” (3); Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb transmitted this as a mursal report (4). Ibn Masʿūd remarked, “We used to liken him to Abraham, the Friend of Allah,” and he also said, “Muʿādh was devout to Allah, ever-inclined to the truth, and was never among the polytheists” (5). He passed away east of the Jordan Valley near Baysān in 18 AH; some say 19 AH, others 17 AH—at the age of thirty-eight according to the most common view, though other opinions exist, and Allah knows best.
Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān (6)—Abū Khālid Yazīd ibn Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAbd Manāf, the Umayyad Qurashī—was the brother of Muʿāwiyah, older and more virtuous. Nicknamed Yazīd al-Khayr (“Yazīd of Goodness”), he embraced Islam in the Year of the Conquest, was present at Ḥunayn, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted him one hundred camels and one hundred and forty uqiyyahs of silver. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq placed him in command of one quarter of the army bound for Syria; he was the first Muslim commander to reach the region. Al-Ṣiddīq walked alongside his mount offering counsel and dispatched with him Abū ʿUbaydah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasanah, these being the commanders of the four divisions. When Damascus was taken, Yazīd entered by the Small Jābiyah Gate by force, just as Khālid entered by the Eastern Gate by force. Abū Bakr had promised him its governorship, so he assumed the post by ʿUmar’s order and