Musaylimah
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Musaylimah was one of a series of men who claimed to be a prophet around the same time as Muhammad. Muslims refer to him as a "false prophet".
Ibn Habib al-Hanefi was the most formidable of the dissidents who unsuccessfully tried to leave the new Islamic state. He was the son of Habib, of the Banu Hanifa, which was one of the largest tribes of Arabia and inhabited the region of Yamamah.
Among the first records of him is in late 9th Hijri, the Year of Delegations' when he accompanied a delegation of his tribe to Madinah. The delegation included two other prominent Muslims. They would later help Musaylimah rise to power and save their tribe from destruction. These men were Nahar Ar-Rajjal bin Unfuwa (or Rahhal) and Muja'a bin Marara.
When the delegation arrived at Madinah the camels were tied in a traveller's camp, and Musaylimah remained there to look after them while the other delegates went in.
They had talks with Muhammad and embraced Islam. As was his custom, Muhammad presented gifts to the delegates, and when they had received their gifts one said:
- "We left one of our comrades in the camp to look after our mounts."
Muhammad gave them gifts for him also, and added,
- "He is not the least among you that he should stay behind to guard the property of his comrades."
On their return they converted the tribe of Banu Hanifa to Islam. They built a mosque at Yamamah and started regular prayers.
Some months passed. Then Musaylimah followed Muhammad in proclaiming his prophethood. He gathered the people and, referring to Muhammad, addressed them:
- "I have been given a share with him in this matter. Did he not say to our delegates that I was not the least among them? This could only mean that he knew that I had a share with him in this matter."
He then dazzled the crowd with apparent miracles. He could put an egg in a bottle; he could cut off the feathers of a bird and then stick them on so the bird would fly again; and he used this skill to persuade the people that he was divinely gifted.
Like Muhammad he shared verses purporting them to have been revelations from God.
The people marvelled at his wisdom and flocked to him, accepting him as a prophet alongside Muhammad.
Gradually the influence and authority of Musaylimah increased. He took to addressing gatherings as an apostle of Allah just like Muhammad, and would compose verses and offer them, as Quranic revelations. Most of his verses extolled the superiority of his tribe, the Bani Hanifa, over the Quraish. Then one day, in late 10 Hijri, he wrote to Muhammad:
- "From Musaylimah, Messenger of Allah, to Muhammad, Messenger of Allah. Salutations to you. I have been given a share with you in this matter. Half the earth belongs to us and half to the Quraish. But the Quraish are a people who transgress."
During Muhammad's life, Musaylimah sent Muhammad an emissary named Ibn an-Nawwahah amongst other diplomats swearing that Musaylimah was a prophet and offering to divide the earth between the two of them. Muhammad replied that the earth was God's to divide as He pleased, and was so angered by the statement that he said he would have executed Ibn an-Nawwahah and his companions if they hadn't enjoyed immunity as emissarys. An exchange between Muhammad and the messengers of Musaylimah are recorded in Sunan Abu Dawood 14:2755.
After Muhammad's death, he rose up against the new Caliph Abu Bakr and defeated the first two generals sent against him., before being defeated by Khalid ibn al-Walid.
After the death of Musaylimah , a deputation of Banu Hanifa waited on Abu Bakr. He inquired of them what were the teachings of the purportedly false prophet. As a specimen of his teaching they recited the following verse, which was alleged to have been revealed to him: "O frog! Holy are you. You do not prevent the drinker, nor do you make the water dirty. Half the world belongs to us, and half to the Quraish, but the Quraish are a cruel people." On hearing this, Abu Bakr remarked: "God be praised. Is this the divine word? It has no sublimity of divinity. To what depths he had dragged you". [1]
Musaylimah was killed in the Battle of Yamamah by Wahshy ibn Harb.
Muslims often call him by the epithet al-Kadhdhaab ("the Liar") in accordance with their view of him as a false prophet.
[edit] Works of Musaylimah
Examples of his claimed revelations are quoted by some early Muslim authors; the best-known of them reads like a parody of the Qur'anic surat al-Fil:
- "The elephant. What is the elephant? And who shall tell you what is the elephant? He has a ropy tail and a long trunk. This is a [mere] trifle of our Lord's creations."
Another, alluded to in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, where it is described as a response to surat al-Asr (it has a similar rhyme scheme to al-Asr, in Arabic), is:
- O hyrax (Wabr), O hyrax! You are only two ears and a chest, and the rest of you is digging and burrowing.
