• Zayd ibn Arqam ibn Zayd (1), a distinguished Companion (2).

Among those who died in this same year were:

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas (3), the Interpreter of the Qur’an and the cousin of the Messenger of the Sovereign Lord. His full lineage is ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Quṣayy, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī, a cousin of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He was the scholar of this community, its foremost exegete, and the translator of Allah’s Book. He was known as al-Ḥabr (“the erudite scholar”) and al-Baḥr (“the ocean”). He transmitted a vast amount from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and from many Companions, while a multitude of Companions and countless Followers learned from him. Because of the breadth of his knowledge, the depth of his understanding, the completeness of his intellect, the vastness of his merit, and the nobility of his lineage, he possessed unique narrations not found with any other Companion. May Allah be pleased with him and grant him His good pleasure.

His mother was Umm al-Faḍl, Lubābah bint al-Ḥārith al-Hilālīyah, the sister of Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith, Mother of the Believers. He is the forefather of the Abbasid caliphs. He had ten full brothers, all sons of Umm al-Faḍl and al-ʿAbbās, and he was the youngest of them; each one died in a land very far from the others, as will be mentioned later.

Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī al-Makkī narrated—through Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbas—that he said:

“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was confined in the mountain pass (4), my father came to him and said, ‘O Muhammad, I see that Umm al-Faḍl is pregnant.’ He replied, ‘Perhaps Allah will gladden your eyes with a boy.’

When my mother gave birth to me, I was brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrapped in a cloth, and he performed the taḥnīk, rubbing a softened date into my mouth with his own saliva.

Mujāhid said: We know of no one other than him whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed taḥnīk with his own saliva (5).