Al-Yaman (Husayl ibn Jabir al-Absi)

Al-Yaman's actual name was Husayl (or Hisl) ibn Jabir, of the Banu Abs tribe (al-Absi). He first lived in Mecca but left after involvement in a blood feud and settled in Yathrib (Medina), where he became a confederate (halif) of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal of the Aws. According to the sources, the epithet 'al-Yaman' derives from this alliance of Yemenite origin (in another report it traces to an ancestor, Jirwa ibn al-Harith, called 'al-Yaman'). He and his son Hudhayfa embraced Islam before Badr. At the Battle of Uhud (3 AH / 625 CE), despite his advanced age he chose to enter the fighting, having at first been placed among the non-combatants with Thabit ibn Waqsh. In the chaos of battle, Muslim fighters who had covered their faces and did not recognize him killed him by mistake, taking him for a polytheist. It is reported that his son Hudhayfa cried out 'He is my father!' but the cry went unheard amid the din. Grieved yet patient, Hudhayfa forgave the killers, saying 'May God forgive you, for He is the most Merciful of those who show mercy'; when the Prophet offered the blood money (diya), Hudhayfa declined it and gave it as charity to poor Muslims. Al-Yaman was buried with the martyrs of Uhud at the battlefield, in the Cemetery of Uhud.