CHAPTER XXI
Al-Aswad al-ʿAnsi and those in al-Yaman who
apostatized with him
Al-Aswad al-ʿAnsi claims to be a prophet. Al-Aswad ibn-Kaʿb ibn-ʿAuf al-ʿAnsi played the soothsayer [Ar. kâhin] and claimed to be a prophet. He was followed by the ʿAns tribe which was named after Zaid ibn-Mâlik ibn-Udad ibn-Yashjub ibn-ʿArîb[1] ibn-Zaid ibn-Kahlân ibn-Saba, who was the brother of Murâd ibn-Mâlik, Khâlid ibn-Mâlik and Saʿd al-ʿAshîrah ibn-Mâlik, together with others outside the ʿAns tribe. Al-Aswad took for himself the name of "Raḥmân [the merciful of] al-Yaman," as Musailimah had taken the name of " Raḥmân al-Yamâmah."[2] He had a trained donkey that would bow on hearing his injunction, "Bow before thy Lord," and that would kneel on hearing "Kneel". Therefore, al-Aswad was called "dhu-l-Ḥimâr[3] [he of the donkey]. Others say he was called "dhu-l-Khimâr" [the veiled one] because he always appeared with a veil and turban.[4] I was told by others from al-Yaman that he was called al-Aswad because the color of his face was black, his proper name being ʿAihalah.
The Prophet invites him to Islâm. In the year in which the Prophet died, he sent Jarîr ibn-ʿAbdallâh al-Bajali, who
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