Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab, the aging and highly respected leader of Banu Hanifa in al-Yamamah, watched his tribe fracture as the nobleman Thumamah ibn Uthal RA [see episode 62] and his followers embraced Islam while others held to the old ways. Musaylimah told his people that if the Prophet ﷺ would grant him power after his death and share prophethood with him "like Musa shared it with his brother Harun," he would follow him, and traveled to Madinah to negotiate. His followers brought him into the Masjid draped in fine cloth like a king. He put his condition to the Prophet ﷺ directly, who refused him even a mere stick, let alone rule or prophethood. Returning home, Musaylimah wrote a letter proclaiming himself co-Messenger of Allah with the Prophet ﷺ, splitting "the matter" between himself and the Quraysh; the two envoys who delivered it affirmed its contents, and the Prophet ﷺ, restrained only by the immunity owed to envoys, rebuked them for their kufr. Musaylimah went on to compose mocking imitations of the Qur'an, including a parody of Surah al-Kawthar and a "Surah al-Difda'" (Chapter of the Frog), which even a passing non-Muslim Arab recognized as the words of a liar.
Musaylimah is, to the best of the tradition's knowledge, the first person ever to falsely claim prophethood and to attempt to imitate the Qur'an, at a time when the very idea of a claimed prophet was unknown among the Arabs (as Heraclius' questioning of Abu Sufyan RA had confirmed [see episode 10]): Islam's success brought a wave of copycat "liars" in its wake, of whom the Prophet ﷺ had already warned "you shall see thirty dajjals that are liars." Musaylimah was eventually killed in the Wars of Ridda (12 AH) by Wahshi RA, who used the same javelin with which he had killed Hamzah ibn Abdul Muttalib RA at Uhud, seeking to atone; Banu Hanifa was the largest and worst of the murtad tribes in that war.
Other events recorded in 9 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
If you make me in charge after you, and you share with me in your prophethood, then I will follow you.
Said to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah, after his followers brought him into the Masjid draped in fine cloth like a king.
Wallahi, if you asked me for this stick, I wouldn't even give it to you. And Allah will deal with you and humiliate you. And I am certain that you are what Allah showed me.
From Musaylimah the Messenger of Allah, to Muhammad ﷺ the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Peace be on you. Know that I have been placed in this matter alongside you. The Quraysh have half of the matter, and I have the other half. But the Quraysh are a people who transgress.
Sent to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah by two envoys, after Musaylimah's demand to share his rule and prophethood was refused.
What do you say about Musaylimah?
We are upon what the letter says.
Were it not for the fact that ambassadors are not harmed, I would have had the two of you executed.
We have given you precious materials. So pray to your Lord and pray early especially. Verily, the one who hates you is a kafir.
Musaylimah's mocking imitation of Surah al-Kawthar, part of his claimed "quran."
O toad, daughter of two toads, go ahead and continue to purify what you are purifying; neither do you make the water dirty, nor do you prevent the one who drinks from drinking. Your head is in the water and your tail is in the mud.
Musaylimah called this "Surah al-Difda'" (Chapter of the Frog), part of his claimed "quran."
You too are a prophet? Do you have anything like the other prophet has?
Yes, I have the quran. Listen to this: The elephant. What is the elephant? And what would have you know what the elephant is? It has a scraggly tail and a very long trunk...
Wallahi, you know that I know that you are a liar.
What was that dream the Prophet ﷺ talked about?
I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "Once, when I was sleeping, I saw myself wearing two bracelets of gold, and I felt disturbed by this. It was inspired to me to blow on them, so I blew on them, and they broke off and went away from me. I interpret them to be two liars who will appear after me: the first of them the one from the tribe of Anas, and the second Musaylimah from al-Yamamah."