Maʿqil ibn Yasar al-Muzani (1) was a venerable Companion. He witnessed the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah, and it was he who held back the branches of the tree from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while the Prophet accepted the people’s pledge beneath it. The tree was a samura (acacia), the very one mentioned in the Noble Quran: “Indeed, Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you beneath the tree” (al-Fath 18).
ʿUmar later appointed him governor of Basra, where he excavated the canal that still bears his name; hence it is called the Maʿqil Canal. He also owned a house there.
Al-Hasan al-Basri recounted: “ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyad entered upon Maʿqil ibn Yasar to visit him during the illness in which he died. Maʿqil said to him, ‘I shall relate to you a hadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Were it not for the condition in which you now find me, I would not convey it to you. I heard him say:
“Whoever is entrusted by Allah with the care of a flock (subjects) and does not tend it with sincere counsel shall never smell the fragrance of Paradise, though its fragrance can be detected from a distance of one hundred years.”’ (2)
[Among those who died in this year]
Abu Hurayrah al-Dawsi (3) — may Allah be pleased with him. Scholars have differed over his name in both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, as well as over his father’s name; we have detailed most of these opinions in our book al-Takmil, and Ibn ʿAsakir has likewise expanded upon them in his Tarikh. The view most commonly held is that his name was ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Sakhr; he belonged to the tribe of Azd, the clan of Daws.
It is also said that his pre-Islamic name was ʿAbd Shams; others say ʿAbd Nuhm, and yet others ʿAbd Ghanm. His teknonym was Abu al-Aswad. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, named him ʿAbd Allah—though another report says ʿAbd al-Rahman—and granted him the kunyah Abu Hurayrah.
(1) Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, vol. 7, p. 14; Ṭabaqāt Khalīfa, pp. 37, 176; Tārīkh Khalīfa, p. 251; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 5, p. 25; Tārīkh al-Bukhārī al-Kabīr, vol. 7, p. 391; Thiqāt al-ʿAjlī, p. 434; al-Maʿārif, p. 297; al-Maʿrifa wa-al-Tārīkh, vol. 1, p. 310; al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl, vol. 8, p. 285; Mashāhīr ʿUlamāʾ al-Amṣār (d. 219); al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ḥākim, vol. 3, p. 577; al-Istiʿāb, vol. 3, p. 1432; Ansāb al-Samʿānī, vol. 11, p. 283; Muʿjam al-Buldān, vol. 5, p. 323; Asad al-Ghāba, vol. 5, p. 232; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, folio 1352; Tārīkh al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 317; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 576; al-Kāshif, vol. 3, p. 144; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 9, p. 379; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 10, p. 235; al-Iṣāba, vol. 9, p. 259; Khulāṣat al-Khazarjī, p. 383.
(2) Recorded in Aḥmad’s Musnad, vol. 5, p. 27; al-Bukhārī (no. 7150); Muslim (nos. 142, 229).
(3) Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, vol. 2, p. 362; vol. 4, p. 325; Ṭabaqāt Khalīfa, p. 114; Tārīkh Khalīfa, pp. 225, 227; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 2, p. 228; vol. 5, p. 114; al-Zuhd li-Aḥmad, p. 224; Tārīkh al-Bukhārī al-Kabīr, vol. 6, p. 132; Thiqāt al-ʿAjlī, p. 513; al-Maʿārif, p. 277; al-Maʿrifa wa-al-Tārīkh, vol. 1, p. 486; vol. 3, pp. 160–162; Akhbār al-Quḍāt, vol. 1, p. 111; Mashāhīr ʿUlamāʾ al-Amṣār (d. 46); al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ḥākim, vol. 3, p. 506; Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ, vol. 1, p. 376; al-Istiʿāb, vol. 4, p. 1768; Ansāb al-Samʿānī, vol. 5, p. 362; Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir, vol. 19, p. 105a; Jāmiʿ al-Usūl, vol. 9, p. 95; Asad al-Ghāba, vol. 6, p. 318; Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Dimashq, vol. 29, p. 179; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, folio 1654; Ṭabaqāt ʿUlamāʾ al-Ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 91; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 578; Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ, vol. 1, p. 32; Tārīkh al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 333; al-ʿIbar, vol. 1, p. 63; Maʿrifat al-Qurrāʾ al-Kubār, vol. 1, p. 43; al-Kāshif, vol. 3, p. 341; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, vol. 9, p. 361; Ghayat al-Nihāya, vol. 1, p. 371; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, vol. 12, p. 262; al-Iṣāba, vol. 12, p. 63; al-Nujūm al-Zāhira, vol. 1, p. 151; Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍara, vol. 1, p. 250; Ṭabaqāt al-Huffāẓ, vol. 9; Khulāṣat al-Khazarjī, p. 462; Shudhūr al-Dhahab, vol. 1, p. 261; Kitāb Abū Hurayra, in the series Aʿlām al-ʿArab by Dr. Muḥammad ʿAjāj al-Khaṭīb.