he rose for the night prayer. When he left for the mosque he would place his right hand over his left, fearing self-conceit.
He narrated from Muʿādh, ʿUbādah ibn al-Sāmit, al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah, and others.
Ahmad says in al-Zuhd (1): “Abū al-Yamān narrated to us; Abū Bakr (2) narrated to us, from Ḥakīm ibn ʿUmayr and Ḍamrah ibn Ḥabīb, who both said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said, ‘Whoever wishes to behold the conduct of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, let him look at the conduct of ʿAmr ibn al-Aswad.’”
ʿĀtikah bint Zayd (3) ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā—sister of Saʿīd ibn Zayd, one of the ten promised Paradise—embraced Islam, emigrated, and was renowned for her beauty and devotion.
ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Bakr (4) married her and was deeply enamored of her. When he was killed at the Battle of Ṭāʾif she swore that she would never remarry. Later her cousin ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb proposed to her and married her; when he was killed she was then wed to al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, who was slain at Wādī al-Sibāʿ (5).
When ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib sought her hand she said, “I fear that you will be killed,” and refused to marry him. Had she done so, he too would have been slain. She therefore remained [without a husband] (6) until she died at the beginning of Muʿāwiyah’s caliphate, in this very year. May Allah have mercy on her.
[Then the year 42 AH began.]
In that year the Muslims campaigned against the Alans and the Byzantines, killing a great many of their commanders and patricians, seizing spoils, and returning safely.
During the same year Muʿāwiyah appointed Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam as governor of Madinah, Khālid ibn al-ʿĀṣ ibn Hishām over Mecca, and over