Musaylimah, commonly given the epithet al-Kadhdhaab "the liar", was a self-proclaimed prophet who rose up towards the end of Muhammad's life (about 11 AH) among the Arab tribe of Banu Hanifa in Yamamah , calling himself the "Merciful (Rahman) of Yamamah". During Muhammad's life, Musaylimah sent Muhammad an emissary named Ibn an-Nawwahah swearing that Musaylimah was a prophet and offering to divide the earth between the two of them; Muhammad replied that the earth was God's to divide as God pleased, and was so angered by the statement that he said he would have executed Ibn an-Nawwahah if he hadn't enjoyed immunity as an emissary. After Muhammad's death, he rose up against the new Islamic state led by Abu Bakr, and defeated the first two generals sent against him, but was defeated by Khalid ibn al-Walid.

Examples of his claimed revelations are quoted, largely for the purpose of ridicule, by some early Muslim authors; the best-known of them reads like a parody of the Qur'anic surat al-Fil:

"The elephant. What is the elephant? And who shall tell you what is the elephant? He has a ropy tail and a long trunk. This is a [mere] trifle of our Lord's creations."

Another, alluded to in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, where it is described as a response to surat al-Asr (it has a similar rhyme scheme to al-Asr, in Arabic), is:

O hyrax (Wabr), O hyrax! You are only two ears and a chest, and the rest of you is digging and burrowing.

External links

• The Message
• The Wars of Apostasy