In Shawwal of 6 AH, a small expedition (sariyya) of 30 Companions under Muhammad ibn Maslamah RA was sent to al-Qurta' against the tribe of Banu Bakr ibn Kilab. On the way back, they came across a small convoy that seemed suspicious and brought its men back as prisoners. They did not realise who they had captured. One of them was Thumamah ibn Uthal, the chieftain of the Banu Hanifa, one of the largest tribes in Arabia. Thumamah had openly sided with the pagans and had publicly threatened to kill the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ had earlier prayed to Allah to give him control over Thumamah, and he recognised him at once. He ordered that Thumamah be treated with honour. Thumamah was kept tied up in the Prophet ﷺ's masjid for three days and was sent the Prophet ﷺ's own food. Each morning the Prophet ﷺ asked him what he had to say, and each time Thumamah gave the same dignified answer. On the third day the Prophet ﷺ had him released. Thumamah went out, bathed, and soon came back to declare his shahada, the testimony of faith. Thumamah then went on to Makkah to perform the umrah he had been travelling to make, and he openly announced his new faith there. When the Quraysh confronted him, he swore that no grain would reach them from his lands until they followed Islam. He then cut off the grain supply from the Najd, in central Arabia, to the Quraysh. In the end Abu Sufyan wrote to the Prophet ﷺ, appealing to him as a relative. The Prophet ﷺ then wrote to Thumamah asking him to let the supply resume.
The Prophet ﷺ sent a letter to Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab of Banu Hanifa calling him to Islam. Musaylimah replied that he would only accept if he were given a share of power.
Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab, "Musaylimah the Liar", was an elderly and highly respected leader of Banu Hanifa in al-Yamamah. He watched his tribe split as Islam spread. The nobleman Thumamah ibn Uthal RA and his followers became Muslims, while others held to the old ways. Musaylimah told his people that he would follow the Prophet ﷺ on two conditions. The Prophet ﷺ must give him power after his death, and must share prophethood with him "like Musa shared with his brother Harun." He then travelled to Madinah to negotiate. His followers brought him into the mosque shielded with fine cloth, as if he were a king. He put his conditions to the Prophet ﷺ directly. The Prophet ﷺ was holding a tree branch, and he said, "Wallahi, if you asked me for this stick, I wouldn't even give this to you." After returning home, Musaylimah wrote to the Prophet ﷺ, calling himself a Messenger of Allah alongside him. He claimed that the Quraysh had half of "the matter" and he had the other half. The Prophet ﷺ asked the two men who delivered the letter what they said about Musaylimah, and they said they agreed with the letter. The Prophet ﷺ told them that, were it not that envoys are never harmed, he would have had them executed, because their claim was open disbelief. Musaylimah also composed imitations of the Qur'an. One was a reworking of Surah al-Kawthar. Another, which he called Surah al-Difda', "the Chapter of the Frog", was addressed to a frog. When he recited his own version of Surah al-Fil to a passing Arab who was not even a Muslim, the man told him, "Wallahi, you know that I know that you are a liar."
Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab, "Musaylimah the Liar," was the leader of the tribe of Banu Hanifa and falsely claimed to be a prophet. He was killed in the Wars of Ridda in 12 AH. These were the wars fought against the tribes that abandoned Islam after the Prophet ﷺ's death. The man who killed him was Wahshi RA. Years earlier, at Uhud, Wahshi had killed Hamzah ibn Abdul Muttalib RA with a javelin. He used the same javelin to kill Musaylimah, hoping to make up for killing Hamzah.
Musaylimah, whose real name was Maslamah ibn Habib, was a leader of the Banu Hanifa. He was an old man who had studied Christianity in Jerusalem in his youth, and he was respected across the whole region of al-Yamama. In the Year of Delegations he came to Madinah. His followers carried him into the mosque shielded by fine cloth, as if he were a king. He offered to follow the Prophet ﷺ on two conditions: that he be made the Prophet ﷺ's successor, and that he be given a share in prophethood. The Prophet ﷺ was holding a palm branch at the time. He told Musaylimah that he would not give him even that stick, and that Allah would deal with him. He added that he was certain Musaylimah was what Allah had shown him in a dream. In that dream the Prophet ﷺ saw two gold bracelets on his arms, blew on them, and they flew away. He understood them to be two liars who would appear after him, al-Aswad al-Ansi and Musaylimah of al-Yamama. When Musaylimah returned home, he wrote a letter to the Prophet ﷺ. He wrote it as one messenger of Allah to another, and claimed that the matter was shared between them, half for the Quraysh and half for him. The Prophet ﷺ asked the two men who brought the letter what they themselves believed, and they said they agreed with it. He told them that, were it not for the rule that envoys are never harmed, he would have had them executed. Musaylimah also made up verses in imitation of the Qur'an, including one about a frog and another about an elephant. One passing Arab told him to his face that they both knew he was a liar. After the Prophet ﷺ died, many tribes abandoned Islam, and the Muslims fought them in what are called the Ridda (apostasy) wars. The Banu Hanifa were the largest and the worst of these tribes, and they rose behind Musaylimah. In 12 AH the caliph Abu Bakr sent Khalid ibn al-Walid against them. The battle at Yamama was the bloodiest of the Ridda wars. Among the Muslims who marched was Wahshi, the man who had killed Hamzah at Uhud before he became Muslim. When he heard of the false prophet, he asked Allah to let him take Musaylimah's life in exchange for Hamzah's. He carried the same javelin and threw it at Musaylimah as he had once thrown it at Hamzah. At the same moment, a man of the Ansar struck Musaylimah with a sword from the other side. Wahshi said that only Allah knew which of them had killed Musaylimah. Many Companions died in the battle. One was Abu Hudhayfah ibn Utbah, who had spoken a sentence at Badr that he regretted for the rest of his life. He used to say he would never feel safe from it unless Allah accepted him as a martyr. Another was Ukasha ibn Mihsan. His sword had broken at Badr, and a stick the Prophet ﷺ handed him became a sword in his hand. He fought with it in every battle until he fell at Yamama.