The meaning of "al-Yamân". I have been informed by certain men of learning that Ḥudhaifah ibn-al-Yamân was the son of Ḥusail [Ḥisl] ibn-Jâbir al-ʿAbsi. He was an ally of the banu-ʿAbd-al-Ashhal of al-Anṣâr; and his mother was ar-Rabâb, daughter of Kaʿb ibn-ʿAdi of the ʿAbd-al-Ashhal tribe. His father was killed in the battle of Uḥud by ʿAbdallâh ibn-Masʿûd al-Hudhali, who killed him by mistake, taking him for an "unbeliever ". In accordance with the Prophet's order, the blood money was paid; but Ḥudhaifah distributed it among the Moslems. According to al-Wâḳidi, Ḥusail was nicknamed al-Yamân because he had commercial interests in al-Yaman; and whenever he arrived in al-Madînah, people would say, "Here comes al-Yamâni [of which al-Yamân is a shortened form]." According to al-Kalbi, however, Ḥudhaifah was the son of Ḥusail ibn-Jâbir ibn-Rabîʿah ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Jurwah, Jurwah being the one nicknamed al-Yamâni after whom Ḥudhaifah was so called, although between the two many generations intervened. Jurwah, in pre-Islamic times, killed someone and fled to al-Madînah, where he became an ally of the banu-ʿAbd-al-Ashhal. His people called him al-Yamâni because he made an alliance with the Yamanites.
