Ali in Yemen: resentment over the fifth, and peace upon Hamdan

Then al-Bukhari said: a chapter of the sending of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Khalid ibn al-Walid to Yemen before the Farewell Pilgrimage: Ahmad ibn Uthman narrated to us: Shurayh ibn Maslama narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq narrated to us: my father related to me, from Abu Ishaq: I heard al-Bara ibn Azib say: the Messenger of Allah sent us with Khalid ibn al-Walid to Yemen; then he sent Ali after that in his place and said: order the companions of Khalid: whoever of them wishes to return with you, let him return, and whoever wishes, let him come. I was among those who returned with him. He said: he gained arm-rings counted in number. Al-Bukhari alone reports this by this route.

Then al-Bukhari said: Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us: Ruh ibn Ubada narrated to us: Ali ibn Suwayd ibn Manjuf narrated to us, from Abdallah ibn Burayda, from his father: the Prophet sent Ali to Khalid ibn al-Walid to take the fifth, and I harbored hatred for Ali. He had washed at morning, and I said to Khalid: do you not see this one? When we arrived to the Prophet I mentioned that to him, and he said: O Burayda, do you hate Ali? I said: yes.

He said: hate him not, for he has in the fifth more than that. Al-Bukhari alone reports this, without Muslim, by this route. The Imam Ahmad said: Yahya ibn Sa’id narrated to us:

Abd al-Jalil said: I came to a circle in which were Abu Mijlaz and Ibn Burayda, and Abdallah ibn Burayda said: my father Burayda related to me that he said: I hated Ali with a hatred such as I had never hated anyone, and I loved a man of Quraysh whom I loved only through hatred of Ali. That man was sent over horses, and I accompanied him, accompanying him only through hatred of Ali. We took captives, and he wrote to the Messenger of Allah: send us one to take its fifth. He sent us Ali, and among the captives was a handmaid of the best of the captives.

He took the fifth and divided, then came out with his head dripping, and we said: O Abu l-Hasan, what is this? He said: did you not see the handmaid who was among the captives? I divided and took the fifth and she fell in the fifth, then fell in the people of the Prophet’s house, then fell in the family of Ali, and I found her. The man wrote to the Prophet of Allah, and I said: send me.

He sent me as a confirmer, and I began reciting the letter saying: he spoke truly. He seized my hand and the letter and said: do you hate Ali? I said: yes. He said: hate him not, and if you love him, increase in love for him; for by Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the share of the family of Ali in the fifth is better than a handmaid.

After the Prophet’s word none was dearer to me than Ali.

Abdallah ibn Burayda said: by Him than whom there is no deity, between me and the Prophet in this hadith there is none but my father Burayda. Abd al-Jalil ibn Atiyya, the jurist Abu Salih al-Basri, alone reports it in this account; Ibn Ma’in and Ibn Hibban declared him reliable, and al-Bukhari said: he only finds fault with a thing after another thing. Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Aban ibn Salih narrated to us, from Abdallah ibn Niyar al-Aslami, from his uncle Amr ibn Shas al-Aslami, who was of the companions of al-Hudaybiyya: I was with Ali ibn Abi Talib among the horses in which the Messenger of Allah sent him to Yemen, and Ali offended me with some offense, and I felt resentment against him. When I came to Medina I complained of him in the assemblies of Medina and to whom I met.

I came one day while the Messenger of Allah sat in the mosque, and when he saw me he looked toward his eyes gazing at me until I sat beside him, and when I sat beside him he said: by Allah, O Amr ibn Shas, you have indeed hurt me. I said: to Allah we belong and to Him we return; I seek refuge in Allah and in Islam that the Messenger of Allah be hurt. He said: whoever hurt Ali has hurt me. Al-Bayhaqi reported it by another route, from Ibn Ishaq, from Aban, from al-Fadl ibn Ma’qil ibn Sinan, from Abdallah ibn Niyar, from his uncle Amr ibn Shas,

mentioning it in its meaning. The hafiz al-Bayhaqi said: Muhammad ibn Abdallah the hafiz informed us: Abu Ishaq al-Muzakki informed us: Abu Abdallah Ahmad ibn Ali al-Jawzajani informed us: Abu Ubayda ibn Abi as-Safar informed us: I heard Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq, from his father, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Bara, that the Messenger of Allah sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to the people of Yemen calling them to Islam. Al-Bara said: I was among those who went out with Khalid ibn al-Walid, and we stayed six months calling them to Islam and they did not answer; then the Messenger of Allah sent Ali ibn Abi Talib and commanded him to bring back Khalid, except for a man who was of those with Khalid who wished to stay with Ali: let him stay with him. Al-Bara said: I was among those who stayed with Ali, and when we drew near the people they came out to us, and Ali prayed with us, then lined us in one row, then advanced before our hands and recited to them the letter of the Messenger of Allah, and Hamdan accepted Islam all together.

Ali wrote to the Messenger of Allah of their Islam, and when the Messenger of Allah read the letter he fell prostrating, then raised his head and said: peace upon Hamdan, peace upon Hamdan. Al-Bayhaqi said: al-Bukhari reported it in abridged form by another route, from Ibrahim ibn Yusuf.