ʿImrān b. Ḥaṭṭān al-Khārijī. He was formerly among the people of the sunnah and the community (ahl al-sunna wa'l-jamāʿa). He married a very beautiful woman from among the Khārijites and loved her deeply. He himself was unattractive. He wished to convert his wife to the madhhab of the people of the sunnah and the community (ahl al-sunna wa'l-jamāʿa).
However, when his wife did not accept this, he himself joined the ranks of the Khārijites along with her. He was among the brilliant poets. Regarding the killing of ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) and his killer, he recited the following poem:
"O blow delivered by a person of taqwa (God-consciousness)! The one who struck this blow,
With his blow, sought to attain divine riḍā (contentment with God's decree) in the presence of the Lord of the Throne.
I remember this one day, and reckon that the one who delivered this blow is, in the sight of Allah, weightier on the scales than all creatures.
How exalted is a people whose graves are the bellies of birds.
They did not mix transgression and enmity into their religion."
Al-Thawrī regarded his verses about asceticism as ideal verses and greatly admired them:
"Those among people who are wretched and miserable do not tire of the world. Yet they are hungry and naked in it. Even if it loves them; I liken the world to a summer cloud. It disperses quickly. They are like a caravan that stops briefly, fulfills its needs, and then moves on.
They have set out on a road whose signs are clear and broad."
ʿImrān b. Ḥaṭṭān died in the eighty-fourth year of the hijra. Some scholars composed the following verses as a refutation (raddiyya) to his verses about the killing of ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), using the same rhyme and meter: "This is a blow delivered by a wretched and miserable person. With this blow, he sought to attain loss in the presence of the Lord of the Throne.
I remember him one day and consider him, in the sight of Allah, the person with the lowest weight on the scales."
Rūḥ b. Zinbaʿ al-Judhāmī was among the commanders of the people of Syria. ʿAbd al-Malik would consult him in matters of governance.