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The fight he would not join
Madinah, in the years after Uthman's death, when the Muslim community had become divided against itself.
MadinahThe years of the first fitnah1 min read
By this point in his life, Muhammad ibn Maslamah had spent decades as someone people relied on — the man sent for when a task needed care rather than force, going back to the Prophet's ﷺ own lifetime.
When the community split, each side wanted men of his standing. He gave neither one what it wanted.
He made a plain decision to take no part in the fighting, on either side, in either of the two clashes that followed — named here as the Battle of the Camel and Siffin, without retelling what divided the community, since the accounts of that dispute differ and are not settled by this record.
Reports describe him going further than simply staying home: he is said to have broken his sword, or by another account to have had a wooden one made, so that there could be no question of him being drawn into the fighting even by circumstance.
He continued to live in Madinah. The sources say little about how he spent the years that followed, only that he held to the decision.
Quick recall
What did Muhammad ibn Maslamah do when the Muslim community became divided in the first fitnah?
Sources & review
Draft content — undergoing reviewThis content was written for SahabaMate and has not yet been checked by a reviewer against the works below. Treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabirالطبقات الكبرى
Classical biography · Ibn Sa'd
Siyar A'lam an-Nubalaسير أعلام النبلاء
Classical biography · Shams ad-Din adh-Dhahabi
Tarikh ar-Rusul wa'l-Mulukتاريخ الرسل والملوك
Classical history · Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari
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