Kumayl ibn Ziyad (1) ibn Nuhayk ibn al-Haytham (2) al-Nakhaʿī, from Kufah.

He transmitted hadith from ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, and Abū Hurayrah (3).

He fought alongside ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn and in the subsequent engagements. Valiant and formidable, yet also an ascetic devoted to worship, he was put to death by al-Ḥajjāj in this very year.

[He had reached one hundred years of age, and al-Ḥajjāj had him executed in cold blood before him. The grievance held against him was that he had once asked ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān for legal retaliation (qiṣāṣ) for a slap ʿUthmān had dealt him. When ʿUthmān offered himself for retaliation, Kumayl pardoned him. Al-Ḥajjāj said, “Is it for the likes of you to seek qiṣāṣ from the Commander of the Faithful?” and ordered that his head be struck off. They relate that during that same period al-Ḥajjāj mentioned ʿAlī and vilified him; Kumayl thereupon invoked blessings upon ʿAlī. Al-Ḥajjāj retorted, “By Allah, I shall send against you someone who hates ʿAlī more than you love him,” and dispatched Ibn Adham—who was from Ḥimṣ; some say it was Abū al-Jahm ibn Kinānah—who beheaded him (4).]

Many of the Successors narrated from Kumayl. He is also the source of the famous report from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib that begins: “Hearts are vessels; the best hearts are those with the greatest capacity.” The narration is lengthy; a group of trustworthy ḥuffāẓ have transmitted it, and it contains admonitions and fine counsel—may Allah be pleased with the one who uttered it (5).

Zādhān Abū ʿUmar al-Kindī (6) was one of the Successors. In his early days he drank intoxicants and played the ṭunbūr (lute), but Allah granted him repentance through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, so he turned back in sincere penitence to the truth (7) and was overcome by deep reverence; when he stood for prayer he was as motionless as a plank of wood.

On one occasion he said, “I am hungry,” whereupon a loaf of bread the size of a mill-stone descended upon him from the loft opening.

Ibn Maʿīn and others considered him reliable.