well-versed in knowledge, assiduous in worship, and possessed of sound judgment. He would reproach his father for siding with Muʿāwiyah, was corpulent, and could read both Scriptures—the Quran and the Torah (1). It is also said that he wept until his eyesight became impaired (2).
It is related from him that he said: “I entered upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he said to me, ‘O ʿAbd Allāh, has it not reached me that you burden yourself with standing in prayer at night and fasting by day?’ I replied, ‘I do indeed do that.’ He said, ‘It is enough for you to fast three days of every month,’” and he continued the report until the Prophet’s words: “Better than that is the fast of David; he would fast one day and break the fast the next” (3).
Muʿāwiyah appointed him governor of Kūfah (4) and later removed him, installing al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah in his place. He died in this same year in Egypt; it is also said that he died in Mecca, and others say in Syria (5).
Usayd ibn Zuhayr al-Ansari (6) participated in the Battle of the Trench and other engagements; he died in Madinah.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿadah al-Fazari (7) was a Companion who settled in Damascus. He was called “the commander of the armies” because he led the expeditions against the Byzantines; Yazīd had sent him in advance of the Damascus troops in the army of al-Ḥarrāh. It is also said that he was captured from the Fazārah tribe, and that the Prophet ﷺ gave him to Fāṭimah, who then set him free.
Saʿīd ibn Mālik ibn Baḥdal (8), the brother of Ḥassān, held the governorship of al-Jazīrah and Qinnasrīn on behalf of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah.
(1) Ahmad in his Musnad (2:222) and Abu Nu‘aym in al-Hilya (1:286) record from ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amr that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: “Recite the two scriptures, the Tawrat (Torah) and the Furqan,” which he did. Its chain is considered ḥasan (sound), as it is transmitted by Qutayba b. Sa‘id from Ibn Lahi‘a, who heard it before his books were destroyed by fire.
(2) In the printed edition: ‘ʿami’; in al-Tarikh al-Islam: ‘rasʿat’ (i.e., “adhered”); in al-Siyar: ‘ramasat’.
(3) The hadith appears in Ahmad’s Musnad (2:200), in Sahih al-Bukhari (nos. 1975, 6134), and in Sahih Muslim (1159). Al-Dhahabi notes in Siyar (3:91) that it has well-known chains of transmission.
(4) In edition A: “Mu‘awiya appointed him to Egypt after his father’s death.” However, no source in the author’s works mentions that ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Amr was appointed to Egypt by Mu‘awiya; rather, he was assigned to Kufa, as likewise in Tarikh al-Islam and al-Siyar.
(5) In the printed edition: “He was killed in Mecca” (a corruption).
(6) The biography of Asid b. Zuhayr is found in: Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat (4:369); al-Tabari, Tarikh (2:477, 505); Abu Nu‘aym, al-Hilya (1:286); al-Kabir (2:47); al-Isti‘ab (1:95); Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil (4:524); al-Asad al-Ghaba (1:94–95); Tahdhib al-Kamal (3:255–256); al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam (5:74); al-Iṣabah (1:123).
(7) The biography of ‘Abd Allah b. Mus‘ada appears in: al-Khalifa, Tarikh Khalifa (209); al-Waqidi, Maghazi (565); al-Isti‘ab (3:987); al-Tabari, Tarikh (2:643; 5:134, 334); Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil (3:376, 377, 491); al-Asad al-Ghaba (3:367); al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam (5:167); al-Iṣabah (3:987).
(8) The biography of Sa‘īd b. Mālik b. Baḥdal is found in: Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Dimashq (21:291–292, Dar al-Fikr ed.); al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam (4:121–122); Tahdhib Tarikh Dimashq (6:173–174).