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. 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 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." 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 [he of the donkey]. Others say he was called "dhu-l-Khimâr" [the veiled one] because he always appeared with a veil and turban. 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.

. In the year in which the Prophet died, he sent Jarîr ibn-ʿAbdallâh al-Bajali, who

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