al-Aswad al-Ansi
الأسود العنسي
c. 580 CE – c. May 632 CE · c. Rabi' I 11 AH
Abhala ibn Ka'b, called al-Aswad 'the veiled one' — a soothsayer of Yemen who claimed prophecy, seized San'a and much of Yemen for a few weeks, and was cut down by the Persian colony that had first served him.
At a glance
- Roles
- Politician
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Civil wars and revoltsProphets
Place in the story
- Rival claimanttowardMuhammad · 632 CE · 11 AH† – 632 CE · 11 AH†Historical
- Ruler · 632 CE · 11 AH† – 632 CE · 11 AH†Historical
Arabian polytheism (debated)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
Abhala ibn Ka'b, nicknamed al-Aswad al-Ansi and "Dhu al-Khimar" — a Yemeni soothsayer who claimed prophethood, ruled San'a' and most of Yemen for a few weeks, then was killed by those who had first served him.
Life
Al-Aswad rose late in the Prophet's life claiming revelation; he drove the Prophet's agents out of Yemen and took San'a' and what lay under it — the first seeds of the Ridda and the closest to the Prophet's death 1.
Then the Persian Abna' of Yemen agreed with his household and his emissaries against him; Fayruz al-Daylami and his people came upon him by night and killed him — the account places his death nights before the Prophet's death 1 2.
Significance
He ruled Yemen for weeks and left neither religion nor state — a fair example of how Ridda movements flared and died out in proportion to the leader who gathered around him, not to their creed.
For young visitors
A man ruled Yemen a few weeks claiming prophethood — then those nearest to him came and killed him in the night.
Connections
- Member of
- Banu Ans
- Died in
- Sana'a
- Opposed
- Rashidun Caliphate
- Ruled over
- Yemen
People and things also explored
Sajah bint al-Harith· Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid· al-Qullays (the Yemeni Kaaba)· The Second Abyssinian Occupation of Yemen· Liberation and Persian Rule of Yemen· Banu Hamdan· Nasr· Yaʿūq
Sources
- al-Tabari, History vol. X: The Conquest of Arabia (Donner translation, SUNY)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Aswad al-Ansi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-aswad-al-ansi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.