She said: “He then performed his taḥnīk, supplicated for him, and blessed him, so he was the first child born in Islam.”

He was therefore an eminent Companion. He transmitted hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ, as well as from his own father, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and others, and a number of the Successors narrated from him. He fought at Yarmūk beside his father while still a youth and attended ʿUmar’s sermon at al-Jābiyah, which he later related in full. [This is established through multiple chains.]

He traveled to Damascus to join the campaign against Constantinople, then went there once again. During the days of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah he was given the pledge of allegiance as caliph; when Yazīd died he gained control of the Hijaz, Yemen, both Iraqs, Egypt, and Khurasan—only Syria remained outside his authority (1). The universal pledge was completed for him in the year 64 AH, and he was regarded as the finest horseman (2) of his age.

Several chains also report from Hishām, from his father, from Asmāʾ, that she left Mecca as an emigrant while pregnant with ʿAbd Allah, gave birth to him at Qubāʾ on the Muslims’ first arrival in Medina, then brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who performed his taḥnīk, named him ʿAbd Allah, and prayed for him. The Muslims rejoiced, for the Jews had claimed that they had bewitched the Emigrants so that no children would be born to them in Medina. When Ibn al-Zubayr was born the Muslims proclaimed the takbīr. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar later heard the Syrian army raise the takbīr when Ibn al-Zubayr was killed and said, “By Allah, those who uttered the takbīr at his birth were better than these who utter it at his death.” Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq gave the adhān in his ear at birth—may Allah be pleased with him—and whoever claims that Abū Bakr carried him around the Kaʿbah while he was wrapped in a cloth is mistaken; Allah knows best. Abū Bakr merely carried him around Medina so that news of his birth would become public, refuting what the Jews had alleged.

Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī said, “ʿAbd Allah’s sideburns were thin, and his beard did not connect fully until he reached sixty years of age.” (3)

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār reported: ʿAlī ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me, from ʿĀmir ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once spoke about a group of adolescent boys that included ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar, ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and ʿUmar ibn Abī Salamah. Some people said, “Messenger of Allah, why do you not take their pledge so that your blessing may reach them and they be remembered?” They were brought to him; the others hesitated, but ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr stepped forward. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ smiled and said, “He is his father’s son,” and accepted his pledge. (4)

Several independent chains likewise state that ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr drank some of the Prophet’s blood. The Prophet ﷺ had been cupped, and the blood was collected in a basin. He handed it to ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr so that he might dispose of it, but ʿAbd Allah drank it. The Prophet ﷺ then said, “The Fire will not touch you except to fulfill an oath; woe to you from the people, and woe to the people from you!” In another version he said, “ʿAbd Allah, take this blood and pour it out where no one can see you.” When he had gone some distance he drank it; on his return the Prophet asked, “What did you do with the blood?” He replied, “I went to the most secluded place I knew and placed it there.”