promise of security and reduced the fort by force, slaughtering and carrying away captives. Here he found certain persons in a church whom he took captives. Among these captives was (1) Ḥumrân ibn-Abân ibn-Khâlid at-Tamri. Others say his father's name was Abba. This Ḥumrân was the freedman of ʿUthmân. He first belonged to al-Musâiyab ibn-Najabah-l-Fazâri from whom ʿUthmân bought him, and then released him. ʿUthmân later sent him to al-Kûfah to make inquiry regarding the conduct of his ʿâmil there, on which occasion Ḥumrân did not tell the truth. So ʿUthmân denied him the rights of protection [Ar. jiwâr] and Ḥumrân went and settled in al-Baṣrah. Among other captives were (2) Sîrîn, father of Muḥammad ibn-Sîrîn,[1] whose brothers were Yaḥya ibn-Sîrîn, Anas ibn-Sîrîn, and Maʿbad ibn-Sîrîn, Muḥammad being the eldest brother, and all being the freedmen of Anas ibn-Mâlik al-Anṣâri; (3) abu-ʿAmrah, a grandfather of ʿAbdallâh ibn-ʿAbd-al-Aʿla, the poet; (4) Yasâr, a grandfather of Muḥammad ibn-Isḥâḳ—the author of as-Sîrah[2]—and a freedman of Ḳais ibn-Makhramah ibn-al-Muṭṭalib ibn-ʿAbd-Manâf; (5) Murrah abu-ʿUbaid, a grandfather of Muḥammad ibn-Zaid ibn-ʿUbaid ibn-Murrah (Nafis ibn-Muḥammad ibn-Zaid ibn-ʿUbaid ibn-Murrah, the owner of the citadel [ḳaṣr] near al-Ḥarrah [volcanic tract of al-Madînah] was a son of this Muḥammad. His descendants give the name of their ancestor as ʿUbaid ibn-Murrah ibn-al-Muʿalla-l-Anṣâri and later az-Zuraḳi); (6) Nuṣair, the father of Mûsa ibn-Nuṣair, the governor of al-Maghrib. This Nuṣair was a freedman of the banu-Umaiyah, as it is asserted by freedmen in the frontier towns descended from slaves whom he
