—while he was standing in prayer inside the Ḥijr (the semi-circular enclosure at the Kaʿbah). He was one of the most prominent figures to be killed during the siege of Mecca.
(1) He was al-Miswar ibn Makhramah ibn Nawfal, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zuhri. His mother was ʿĀtikah, the sister of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf. He enjoyed the status of a Companion and was a transmitter of ḥadith. He once visited Muʿāwiyah as part of a delegation and was among those who regularly kept company with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.
It is related that he used to fast perpetually, and whenever he entered Mecca he would circumambulate the Kaʿbah seven times for every day he had been absent, then perform two units of prayer.
It is also said that on the day of al-Qādisiyyah he found a gold pitcher studded with rubies. Unsure of its value, he was approached by a Persian man who offered to buy it for ten thousand. Realizing it was something precious, he sent it to Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, who awarded it (2) to him as his share of the spoils, and he later sold it for one hundred thousand.
After the death of Muʿāwiyah he came to Mecca. There, when the Kaʿbah was being bombarded, a stone from a catapult struck him; he died five days later. ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr washed his body and, together with others who were being carried to al-Ḥajūn (3), bore him over the corpses that littered the ground, making their way through the ranks of the Syrian army.
On one occasion al-Miswar stored up grain during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. When he saw ominous clouds, he disliked what they portended. At dawn he rushed to the market crying, “Whoever comes to me, I shall give it to him!” ʿUmar said, “Have you lost your wits, Abū Makhramah?” He replied, “By Allah, Commander of the Believers, I have not, but I saw those clouds and feared what people might suffer; I did not wish to profit from their hardship.” ʿUmar said to him, “May Allah reward you well.”
Al-Miswar was born in Mecca two years after the Hijrah.
(4) Al-Munzir ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām: he was born during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. His mother was Asmāʾ, daughter of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq.