—among Quraysh—stood near al-Ṣafā. In later times it passed to the caliph al-Mahdī, who granted it to his wife al-Khayzurān, mother of Mūsā al-Hādī and Hārūn al-Rashīd. She rebuilt and refurbished it, so the house became known by her name; afterwards it came into other hands.

Al-Arqam took part in Badr and in every subsequent engagement. He died in Madinah this very year, and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ—may Allah be pleased with him—fulfilled his bequest by leading the funeral prayer. He was a little over eighty years old.

Sahbān ibn Zufar ibn Iyās (1) ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn al-Aḥab (2) al-Bāhilī al-Wāʾilī
The brilliance of his eloquence became a proverb: “More eloquent than Sahbān Wāʾil.” Wāʾil is Wāʾil ibn Maʿn (3) ibn Mālik ibn Aʿṣur ibn Saʿd ibn Qays ibn ʿAylān (4) ibn Muḍar ibn Nizār. Bāhila was the wife of Mālik ibn Aʿṣur, and her children are traced back to her; she is Bāhila bint Ṣaʿb ibn Saʿd al-ʿAshīrah.

Ibn ʿAsākir writes: “Sahbān—known as Sahbān Wāʾil—once came as an envoy to Muʿāwiyah and addressed him. Muʿāwiyah asked, ‘Are you the elder?’ He answered, ‘By Allah, yes—and more besides.’ Ibn ʿAsākir adds nothing further.”

Ibn al-Jawzī, in al-Muntaẓam, includes his entry as mentioned above and continues: “He was so eloquent that people coined proverbs about his speech. One day he entered upon Muʿāwiyah while the tribal orators were present. When they saw him they withdrew, knowing their inadequacy before him. Sahbān recited:
The Yemenite clan well knows that I—
when I say, ‘To proceed,’—am its chosen orator.

Muʿāwiyah said to him, ‘Deliver an address.’

He replied, ‘Find me a staff to straighten what is crooked within me.’

They asked, ‘What need have you of a staff when you stand in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful?’

He answered, ‘What did Moses do with his staff when he spoke to his Lord—Exalted is He?’

He then took the staff and spoke from noon until the time approached for ʿAṣr. He neither cleared his throat nor coughed, never hesitated, never repeated a single idea. When he finally broke off, some of his discourse still remained unsaid. Muʿāwiyah called, ‘The prayer!’

Sahbān replied, ‘The prayer is before you. Are we not engaged in praise and glorification, exhortation and admonition, reminding, promise, and threat?’

Muʿāwiyah exclaimed, ‘You are the most eloquent of the Arabs!’

Sahbān replied, ‘The Arabs alone? Nay, the most eloquent of jinn and humankind!’

Muʿāwiyah said, ‘So you are.’