Fayruz al-Daylami

فيروز الديلمي

One of the Abna' — sons of the Persians Kisra sent to Yemen with Ibn Dhi Yazan under Wahriz — who embraced Islam and was won over by Qays ibn Hubayra al-Muradi for the killing of al-Aswad al-Ansi, entering his house at dawn in San'a; the slayer is disputed: some say Qays slaughtered him and took his head, others that Fayruz killed him and Qays merely finished it, Umar saying when both claimed it in Medina 'this lion killed him' meaning Fayruz, and some scholars record the Prophet ﷺ saying in his illness five days before his death 'God has killed al-Aswad al-Ansi; the righteous man Fayruz ibn al-Daylami killed him'.

Overview

Fayruz al-Daylami (may God be pleased with him) of the Abna, the Persian families whom Khosrow sent to Yemen with the son of Dhu Yazan, under the command of Wahriz. He embraced Islam, and Qays ibn Hubayra al-Muradi won him over to kill al-Aswad al-Ansi. He was among those who entered upon al-Aswad by stealth at dawn in his house at Sana'a. ¹

Who killed al-Aswad

Opinions differ on the killer. Some said that Qays slaughtered him and cut off his head. Others said that Fayruz killed him and that Qays gave him the credit. The source reports that when the two claimed it in Medina, Umar said: "This lion killed him", meaning Fayruz. Some scholars mention that the Prophet said, five days before his death: "God has killed al-Aswad al-Ansi; a righteous man, Fayruz ibn al-Daylami, killed him." See the killing of al-Aswad al-Ansi. ¹

The Ridda Wars

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr succeeded, groups of the Arabs apostatized and withheld the alms, some saying 'we keep the prayer but will not pay the zakat', whereupon Abu Bakr said 'if they withheld from me a hobbling-cord — some say a she-goat kid — I would fight them', the 'iqal being a year's alms; Abdullah ibn Masud said the Muslims had stood after the Prophet at a station where they nearly perished had God not graced them with Abu Bakr: they had all agreed not to fight over a young she-camel or a weaned camel 'and to eat the Arab villages' yield and worship God until certainty came to us', but God resolved him to fight, and he accepted from them only the humiliating condition or the annihilating war — the first that they confess their slain are in the Fire and return what they took of Muslim property, the second that they leave their homes; in Tariq ibn Shihab's report he offered the Buzakha delegation the choice of the annihilating war or the humiliating peace: surrender of armour and mounts, return of what was taken, blood-money for the slain Muslims, their own slain in the Fire; Aisha said 'when the Prophet died there befell my father what would have crushed the firm mountains — hypocrisy reared its head in Medina and the Arabs apostatized'; Abu Bakr went out to al-Qassa directing the columns against the apostates, was attacked by Kharija ibn Hisn and Manzur ibn Zabban the Fazaris who were routed with Talha ibn Ubaydillah pursuing them to lower Thaniyyat Awsaja, then appointed Khalid ibn al-Walid over the army and Thabit ibn Qays over the Ansar, beginning with Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid at Buzakha, followed by the affairs of Yamama, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt, Mecca, Tihama and Iraq.

Fayruz al-Daylami

At a glance

Overview

Who killed al-Aswad

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

The Ridda Wars