Among those who also passed away this year were:
– Sālim ibn ʿUmayr (1): one of the “weepers” mentioned in the Quran (2). He fought at Badr and in every subsequent campaign.
– Surāqah ibn Kaʿb (3): he too was present at Badr and all that followed.
– ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khālid ibn al-Walīd (4), the Qurashi from the Makhzūm clan. Like his father, he was counted among the celebrated heroes and renowned warriors. His standing and influence in Syria grew so great (5) that even Muʿāwiyah feared him. He died by poison—may Allah have mercy on him and honor his resting place.
Ibn Mandah and Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī state that he lived long enough to meet the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn ʿAsākir, through the route of Abū ʿUmar, reports that (6) ʿAmr ibn Qays narrated from him a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ concerning cupping between the two shoulder-blades. Al-Bukhārī (7) judged the chain to be broken—that is, mursal.
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār (8) said: “He enjoyed great prestige among the people of Syria and fought at Ṣiffīn alongside Muʿāwiyah. Kaʿb ibn Juʿayl composed panegyrics for him and for his two brothers, Muhājir and ʿAbd Allah.”
Ibn Sumayʿ adds: “During Muʿāwiyah’s reign he was in charge of the summer expeditions (al-ṣawāʾif), and he transmitted reports from Muʿāwiyah.”
(1) Ibn Hisham, al-Sīrah (2:635–636); Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt (3:480); al-Istiʿāb (2:567); Asad al-Ghābah (2:311); al-Iṣābah (entry 3046).
(2) In Asbāb al-Nuzūl (p. 258), al-Wāhidī explains that the verse walā alā alladhīna idhā mā atawka li-taḥmilahum qulta lā ajidu mā aḥmilukum ʿalayh (“There is no blame on those who, when they came to you to be carried [for the campaign], you said, ‘I do not find what to carry you on’”) was revealed concerning the bukā’īn (the weepers), seven in number. They came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Prophet of God, God has summoned us to go out with you; carry us on our mraqu’a khuff (patched sandals) and makhfūfah (sole-less sandals) so that we may fight alongside you.” He replied, “I have nothing to carry you on,” and they departed weeping. Variant lists of their names appear in Ibn Kathīr’s Tafsīr (2:381–382) and Ibn al-Qayyim’s Zād al-Ma‘ād (3:528), among others.
(3) Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd (3:487); al-Jarḥ wa’l-Taʿdīl (4:308); al-Istiʿāb (2:580); Asad al-Ghābah (2:330); al-Iṣābah (entry 3114).
(4) Nasab Quraysh (p. 324); al-Maʿrifah wa’l-Tārīkh (3:319); al-Jarḥ wa’l-Taʿdīl (5:229); Mashāhīr ʿUlamā’ al-Amṣār (entry 352); al-Istiʿāb (2:829); Asad al-Ghābah (3:440); Tārīkh Dimashq (34:324); al-ʿIbar (1:53); al-Iṣābah (entry 6207); Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (1:239).
(5) Present in (A) only.
(6) In the ṭ (printed) edition the chain reads “from Abū ʿImrān ʿAmr,” which is incorrect, since ʿAmr ibn Qays’s kunyah is Abū Thawr; see his biography in Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Dimashq (19:280) and elsewhere.
(7) Tārīkhuhu al-Kabīr (5:277); as transmitted by Ibn ʿAsākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (34:326).
(8) See Nasab Quraysh by Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī (p. 324) and Tārīkh Dimashq (34:326).