It is narrated from Sayyiduna Sa'sa'ah bin Najiyah al-Mujashi'i (may Allah be pleased with him), who is the grandfather of the famous poet al-Farazdaq bin Ghalib, that: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) presented Islam to me. I accepted Islam, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me some verses of the Qur'an. I said: "O Messenger of Allah! In the period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah) I did some deeds (which were outwardly good); will I receive a reward for them?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "What did you do?" I said: Two of my she-camels, ten months pregnant, went astray. I set out riding my camel to search for them, and I saw two tents in an open plain. I went towards them and found an old man there. I asked: Have you come across two pregnant she-camels? He asked: What is their mark? I said: It is the brand of Banu Darim. He said: We have found your two she-camels; through them Allah has saved the lives of these two households of the tribe of Mudar. He was still talking to me when a woman called out from the other dwelling: "A child has been born, a child has been born!" The old man asked: What has been born? If it is a boy, he will be our partner among our people, and if it is a girl, bury her alive. The woman said: It is a girl. I asked: Who is this newborn? He said: She is my daughter. I said: I will buy her from you. He said: O brother of Banu Tamim! Would you sell your own daughter? While I am an honoured man of Mudar! I said: I am not buying her person from you; rather, I am buying her life from you, so that you do not kill her. He asked: In exchange for what will you buy her? I said: For these two she-camels of mine and the young they will give birth to. He said: Will you also give me this camel of yours in addition? I said: Yes, on the condition that you send a messenger with me; when I reach my home, I will return your camel to him. He did so, and when I reached home, I returned the camel to him. Then, at some hour of the night, I thought to myself: This is such a noble deed that no one among the Arabs has done it before me. So, until the appearance of Islam, I saved the lives of 360 girls who were to be buried alive; I would buy each girl for two pregnant she-camels and a camel. So will I receive a reward for that? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Its reward has been established for you, since Allah has blessed you with the gift of Islam." Abbad says: Confirmation of this statement of Sa'sa'ah is found in this verse of al-Farazdaq: "My grandfather is the one who stopped those who buried girls alive, and gave new life to the girls who were to be buried alive, so that they could not be buried."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Sa'sa'ah bin Najiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah! Sometimes some wealth is left over with me, which I keep set aside for calamities and for travellers." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "(The first to be entitled to it are) your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, and then whoever is closest to you." After this is the honourable mention of Sayyiduna Qays bin Asim al-Minqari (may Allah be pleased with him).

It is narrated from Abu Ubaydah that: Qays bin Asim bin Sinan bin Khalid bin Minqar bin Ubayd bin Muqa'is bin Amr bin Ka'b bin Sa'd bin Zayd Manat bin Tamim; he was the chief of his people, and when he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as part of a delegation, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said (on seeing him): "This is the chief of the desert-dwellers (the people of the tents)."

It is narrated from Abd al-Malik bin Abi Sawiyyah al-Minqari that he said: I was present with Sayyiduna Qays bin Asim (may Allah be pleased with him) at the time of his death when he made his will. He gathered his sons, who were thirty-two (32) males, and then said: "O my sons! When I die, make the eldest among you your chief so that you remain in the footsteps of your forefathers, and do not make the youngest among you chief, for that will lower your standing among your peers. Do not appoint wailing women (professional mourners) over me, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbid wailing. It is incumbent upon you to put your wealth in good order, for it is a means of raising the esteem of the honourable man, and through it one becomes independent of mean people. Do not give away your camels other than for their due (charity, zakah and the like), nor withhold them from their due. Beware of every bad family and lineage, for whatever pleases you one day will grieve you more than that. Be wary of the sons of your enemies, for they are your enemies, following in the footsteps of their fathers. And when I die, bury me in a place that this tribe of Bakr bin Wa'il will not come to know of, for in the Jahiliyyah there were bloodsheds (enmities) between me and them, and I fear that they will dig up my grave, whereupon you would ruin their worldly life and they would spoil your Hereafter." Then he called for his quiver and ordered his eldest son, whose name was Ali, to take out one arrow from his quiver. He took it out, and he said: "Break it." He broke it. Then he said: "Take out two arrows." He took them out, and he said: "Break them." He broke them too. Then he said: "Take out three arrows." He took them out, and he said: "Break them." He broke them too. Then he said: "Take out thirty (30) arrows." He took them out, and he said: "Bind them with a bowstring." He bound them. Then he said: "Now break them," and he could not break them. Then he said: "O my sons! When you stay together you are like this, and if you separate you are like that (weak)." Then he recited these verses: "True glory is that which a truthful father built and whose deeds his offspring kept alive; and glory, bravery and forbearance are sufficient, provided that chastity and generosity adorn them. O my sons! When thirty (men) are bound by mutual covenants against the calamities of time, they are like those thirty arrows that have been bound firmly against the hardships of time; they never scatter. But if the arrows become separated, their scattering destroys the whole group. Those of mature age and noble character are the most entitled to lead you, and it is incumbent upon them to protect the younger ones until even the youngest among them, with his utmost effort, reaches the age of discernment (maturity)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Qays bin Asim al-Minqari (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and when he (peace and blessings be upon him) saw me, I heard him (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "This is the chief of the desert-dwellers (the people of the tents)." When I dismounted from my mount and came to him (peace and blessings be upon him), I began to talk with him (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! What is the wealth for which no burden or liability will fall on me on account of guests and a large family? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Forty camels are the best wealth, and sixty at the most. Woe to the owners of hundreds of camels, except the one who gives of their milk (in charity), helps with them in times of hardship, lends out their backs for riding, and feeds the qani' (the contented needy person) and the mu'tarr (the one who presents himself asking)." I said: O Prophet of Allah! How noble and beautiful these manners are! O Prophet of Allah! In the valley where I live, no room is left (for anyone else to settle) because of the great number of my camels. He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Then what do you do?" I said: My camels go out to graze and the people also reach there; whoever wishes takes hold of the head of a camel and takes it away. He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "What do you do about lending out their backs?" I said: I do not lend out the young ones or the old she-camel for riding (so that they are not burdened). He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Is your own wealth dearer to you, or the wealth of your heirs?" I said: My own wealth is dearer to me than the wealth of my heirs. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Your share of your wealth is only what you have eaten and finished, or worn and made old, or given in the way of Allah and so preserved (for the Hereafter); whatever is besides that belongs to your heirs." I said: By Allah! If I remain alive, I will exhaust the number of these camels (by spending them in the way of Allah). Imam al-Hasan al-Basri says: By Allah! He did just that. Then, when the time of Qays's death drew near, he gave his sons a parting counsel, saying: "Beware of begging (asking from people), for it is the worst earning of a person, and whoever takes the path of asking abandons the earnings of his own labour."

It is narrated from Abu Ubaydah Ma'mar bin al-Muthanna that: Amr bin al-Ahtam bin Sumayy bin Sinan bin Khalid bin Minqar bin Ubayd bin Muqa'is bin Amr bin Ka'b bin Sa'd bin Zayd Manat bin Tamim; and the real name of al-Ahtam was Sinan. On the day of the Battle of al-Kulab his two front teeth were broken (because of which he came to be called al-Ahtam, that is, the one with broken teeth).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Qays bin Asim, al-Zibriqan bin Badr and Amr bin al-Ahtam al-Tamimi were sitting in the gathering of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Al-Zibriqan, boasting, said: "O Messenger of Allah! I am the chief of Banu Tamim; my word is obeyed among them and they respond to my call. I protect them from injustice and secure their rights for them, and this man (that is, Amr bin al-Ahtam) knows this well." At this Amr bin al-Ahtam said: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, he is very eloquent of tongue, a protector of those who take refuge with him, and his command is obeyed within his close circle." Al-Zibriqan said (on hearing this): "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, he knows far more about me than what he has stated, and nothing but envy has kept him from saying the truth." Amr retorted: "I envy you?! By Allah, you are of mean stock on your maternal side, your wealth is newly acquired, your father was a fool, and you are of no standing in your tribe. By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, what I said first was true, and in what I have said now I have not lied either. But I am a man who, when pleased, says the best thing I know, and when angered, says the worst thing I can find. By Allah, I was truthful in both states." At this the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said (twice): "Indeed, some eloquent speech is magic (in its effect); indeed, some eloquent speech is magic." Concerning this it is also narrated from Abu Bakrah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) that he was present in this gathering.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when the delegation of Banu Tamim came to him (peace and blessings be upon him), among whom were Qays bin Asim, Amr bin al-Ahtam and al-Zibriqan bin Badr. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Amr bin al-Ahtam: "What do you say about al-Zibriqan bin Badr?" He said: O Messenger of Allah! He is obeyed (one whose command is followed) among those close to him, he is eloquent of tongue, and he is the protector of his tribe. Al-Zibriqan said: O Messenger of Allah! By Allah, he knows far more about me than what he has stated, but he kept silent purely out of envy. At this Amr said: By Allah, O Messenger of Allah! He is devoid of manliness, narrow-hearted, his maternal relatives are base and his father is a fool. By Allah, I did not lie at first, and now I have spoken the truth. But when I was pleased, I said the best thing I knew, and when I was displeased, I said the worst thing I knew. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, some eloquent speech is like magic (in its effect), and indeed, some poetry is pure wisdom."

It is narrated from Ma'mar bin al-Muthanna that: Sa'sa'ah bin Mu'awiyah bin Husayn bin Umayr bin Ubadah bin al-Nazzal bin Murrah bin Ubayd bin Muqa'is bin Amr bin Ka'b bin Sa'd bin Zayd Manat bin Tamim; he is the paternal uncle of Sayyiduna al-Ahnaf bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Sa'sa'ah bin Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and heard him (peace and blessings be upon him) reciting this verse: "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it." [Surah al-Zalzalah: 7-8] I said: I do not care to hear anything besides this; it is enough for me, it is enough for me.