'Amr ibn 'Abasa al-Sulami

'Amr ibn 'Abasa ibn 'Amir ibn Khalid ibn Ghadira ibn 'Attab ibn Imru' al-Qays al-Sulami, whose kunya was Abu Yahya, was the son of Ramla bint al-Waqi'a of Banu Haram and the half-brother through his mother of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari; he lived in Syria. Al-Hakim takes this from Khalifa ibn Khayyat. ²

Al-Hakim gives, through Abu Umama al-Bahili, 'Amr ibn 'Abasa's account of coming to the Prophet at the very beginning of his mission, when he was still in hiding. He asked: "What are you?" "A prophet." "And what is a prophet?" "A messenger of God." He asked with what God had sent him, and was told: that God be worshipped, idols broken and family ties kept. He asked who followed him in this, and was told: "A free man and a slave", meaning Abu Bakr and Bilal. ¹

'Amr used to say: "I saw myself as a quarter of Islam." He accepted Islam and asked to follow the Prophet, who told him: "No, but go back to your people's land, and when you hear that I have prevailed, come to me." Al-Hakim calls it sound in chain and not included by the two masters; al-Dhahabi says: sound. ¹

Abu Sallam al-Aswad relates from him that the Prophet led them in prayer facing a camel from the spoils; after the closing greeting he took a tuft of hair from the camel's flank and said that not even this much of the spoils was lawful for him except the fifth, and the fifth was returned to them. Al-Dhahabi left it out of the Talkhis. ²