Different names have been mentioned for al-Sufyani in Shiite and Sunni sources of hadiths. For example, in different hadiths from Imam Ali (a), his name is variously mentioned as Anbasa b. Marra, Harb b. Anbasa, and Uthman b. Anbasa, and it is said that he is from the progeny of Abu Sufyan. In Sunni sources, his name is variously mentioned as Harb b. Anbasa and Mu'awiya b. Utba.
According to hadiths, al-Sufyani is a bloodshedder, homicidal, and brutal. Moreover, according to hadiths from Imam Ali (a), al-Sufyani is a broad-shouldered, his face is full of acne, and has one eye, and people are frightened upon seeing him. According to a hadith transmitted from Imam al-Sadiq (a) in Bihar al-anwar, al-Sufyani is an enemy of the Shi'as, and his crier in Kufa announces that anyone who beheads a Shi'a will be given one thousand dirhams.
