Who Was Musaylimah? The Liar in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Ibrahim

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Arabia before Islam523–570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1260 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

  1. Isa ibn Maryam descends
  2. A landslide in the east
  3. A landslide in the west
  4. A landslide in Arabia
  5. The smoke
  6. The sun rises from the west
  7. The Beast of the earth
  8. A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history18 / 26

مسيلمة الكذاب

Musaylimah

The Liar631–632 CE

Relied onA forged revelation

Undone byWahshi, who once killed Hamzah

He claimed prophethood in Yamamah and wrote to the Prophet ﷺ offering to share the earth. The reply was addressed 'to Musaylimah the Liar'.

How it ended

Killed at the Battle of Yamamah in 632 by Wahshi, whose spear had once killed Hamzah. Wahshi had since become Muslim and called it his amends.

And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah or says, "It has been inspired to me," while nothing has been inspired to him …

Quran 6:93

The lessonClaiming to speak for Allah is the greatest lie (6:93).

In the Quran

Stood against
Abu Bakr
Source
Authentic hadithThe Prophet ﷺ saw him in a dream as one of two liars (Sahih al-Bukhari). His death is also in al-Bukhari.Sahih al-Bukhari 3620, 3621 ↗Sahih al-Bukhari 4072 ↗

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.