Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ⦗1⦘—and others—state that he died in Basra in 50 AH; another report puts it at 51 AH. Ziyād led the funeral prayer over him, and he left several sons.
In the pre-Islamic period his name was ʿAbd Kulāl—some say ʿAbd Kulūb, others ʿAbd al-Kaʿbah—but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ renamed him ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. He was one of the two envoys who negotiated between Muʿāwiyah and al-Ḥasan.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: “O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, do not ask for authority. If you are given it because you asked, you will be left to it; but if you are given it without asking, you will be assisted in it.” ⦗2⦘
In this same year also died ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀs al-Thaqafī ⦗3⦘, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṭāʾifī. Both he and his brother al-Ḥakam were Companions. He came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with the delegation of Thaqīf; the Prophet ﷺ appointed him governor of al-Ṭāʾif, and Abū Bakr and ʿUmar kept him in that post. He led them in prayer and governed them for a long time until he died in 50 AH—some say 51 AH—may Allah be pleased with him.
As for ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib ⦗4⦘, the brother of ʿAlī, he was ten years older than Jaʿfar, while Jaʿfar was ten years older than
(1) Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 7, p. 367; al-Mizzī, Tahdhib al-Kamal, vol. 17, p. 159.
(2) Only the portion enclosed between the two parentheses (A) appears in the original. The full hadith reads: “And if you swear an oath by something and then you find something better than it, perform the better act and expiate your oath.” It is recorded in Aḥmad’s Musnad (5:62–63), al-Bukhārī (no. 7146) in al-Aḥkām, chapter “Whoever asked for the governorship and it was granted to someone else,” Muslim (1652) in Kitāb al-Aymān, Abū Dāwūd (3277) and al-Nasā’ī (vol. 7, p. 10) in Kitāb al-Nudhūr, and al-Tirmidhī (1529) in Kitāb al-Nudhūr wa-al-Aymān, who commented: “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.”
(3) Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 5, p. 508; al-Khalīfa, Tabaqāt, pp. 53, 182, 197; al-Khalīfa, Tarikh, pp. 149, 152; Aḥmad, Musnad, vol. 4, pp. 21, 216; Tarikh al-Bukhārī al-Kabīr, vol. 6, p. 212; Thiqāt al-ʿAjlī, p. 328; Maʿārif, pp. 268, 555; Maʿrifa wa-al-Tarikh, vol. 1, p. 273; al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl, vol. 6, p. 163; Mashāhīr ʿUlamāʾ al-Amṣār, p. 224; Muʿjam al-Ṭabarānī al-Kabīr, vol. 9, pp. 30, 53; al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 3, p. 618; al-Istiʿāb, vol. 3, p. 1035; Asad al-Ghāba, vol. 3, p. 579; Tahdhib al-Kamal (leaf 915); Tarikh al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 305; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 374; al-Kashif, vol. 2, p. 220; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 9, p. 370; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 7, p. 128; al-Iṣāba, vol. 6, p. 388; Khulāṣat al-Khazarjī, p. 260.
(4) Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 4, p. 42; al-Khalīfa, Tabaqāt, pp. 17, 820, 1481; Aḥmad, Musnad, vol. 2, p. 201; vol. 3, p. 451; Tarikh al-Bukhārī al-Kabīr, vol. 7, p. 50; Tarikh al-Bukhārī al-Ṣaghīr, vol. 1, p. 145; Thiqāt al-ʿAjlī, p. 338; Maʿārif (index); al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl, vol. 6, p. 218; Mashāhīr ʿUlamāʾ al-Amṣār, p. 14; al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 3, p. 575; Jumḥurat Ansāb al-ʿArab, p. 69; al-Istiʿāb, vol. 3, p. 1078; Tarikh Ibn ʿAsākir, vol. 11, p. 363a; Asad al-Ghāba, vol. 4, p. 63; Tahdhib al-Asmāʾ wa-al-Lughāt, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 337; Mukhtaṣar Tarikh Dimashq, vol. 17, p. 114; Tahdhib al-Kamal (leaf 951); Tarikh al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 233; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 3, p. 47b; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 3, p. 99; al-Kashif, vol. 2, p. 239; Nukat al-Humyān, p. 200; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 9, p. 273; al-ʿAqd al-Thamīn, vol. 6, p. 113; al-Iṣāba, vol. 2, p. 494; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 7, p. 254; Khulāṣat al-Khazarjī, p. 269.