al-Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari

Al-Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari, of the Khazraj, the first child born to the Ansar after the Hijra according to one account, and he and his parents were Companions. He related from the Prophet, governed Homs and then Kufa in the time of Mu'awiya, and was killed after the battle of Marj Rahit in 64 AH. ¹

He was al-Nu'man ibn Bashir ibn Tha'laba ibn Sa'd ibn Khallas al-Ansari al-Khazraji, and his kunya was Abu Abd Allah. His mother was Amra daughter of Rawaha, the sister of Abd Allah ibn Rawaha (may God be pleased with him). ²

He was born eight years and seven months before the death of the Prophet, though it is said six years; the first is the sounder according to Ibn al-Athir. Ibn al-Zubayr said that al-Nu'man was six months older than him. ²

His two sons Muhammad and Bashir related from him, with al-Sha'bi, Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman, Khaythama, Simak ibn Harb, Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd, Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i, Abd al-Malik ibn Umayr and others. ²

Among his hadiths is that his father brought him to the Prophet and said he had given this son a slave, and the Prophet said: "Have you given all your sons the like of this?" He said no, and the Prophet said: "Then take it back." Al-Bukhari and Muslim relate it. ²

The best known is the hadith "The lawful is clear, the unlawful is clear, and between them are doubtful matters", related from him by al-Sha'bi and transmitted by al-Tirmidhi. Ibn Abd al-Barr said that some people of hadith do not accept that al-Sha'bi heard it from the Prophet, but to him it is sound because al-Sha'bi says he heard it from the Prophet. ²

Mu'awiya appointed him over Homs and then over Kufa, and after him his son Yazid appointed him over it. His inclination was towards Mu'awiya and his son Yazid. ²

When Mu'awiya dismissed him from Kufa and appointed him over Homs, the chief of Hamdan, al-A'sha, came to him asking for his bounty. Al-Nu'man gathered the people of Homs and said that the man was their cousin and was asking them for help. They ruled upon themselves two dinars from every man on the stipend, so that forty thousand dinars came to him from the public treasury. He took them and recited verses praising him. ³

When Mu'awiya ibn Yazid died, he called the people in Syria to give the allegiance to Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. The people of Homs disagreed with him, and he left Homs. They followed him and killed him after the battle of Marj Rahit, in the year 64 AH, in Dhu al-Hijja. ²

Ibn al-Athir described him as generous, bountiful, a poet and brave. ²

• The date of his birth is disputed: eight years and seven months before the death of the Prophet, or six years. Ibn al-Athir preferred the first without stating the basis for the preference. Both views are recorded as reported.
• The hadith "the lawful is clear" is given by Ibn al-Athir with al-Tirmidhi's chain; Ibn Abd al-Barr's note on al-Sha'bi's hearing is recorded. The chain has not been judged here.
• The entry rests on "Usd al-Ghaba" (pp. 1193–1195) alone. His biography in al-Istiab, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala', and Tahdhib al-Kamal has not yet been read, nor the historical details of his rule in Homs and Kufa in al-Tabari; these will be added when extracted.
• The story of the forty thousand dinars is reported by the books of news as Ibn al-Athir gives it; it has not been checked in a second source.