Mention of the virtues of Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas bin Imri' al-Qays bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who was the orator of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He took part in Uhud, al-Khandaq and all the battles with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and was martyred in the Battle of Yamamah.

It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ishaq that Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred on the day of Yamamah, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) had appointed him commander of the Ansar alongside Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him).

Ahmad bin Sayyar relates that the kunyah of Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas (may Allah be pleased with him) was Abu Abd al-Rahman.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What an excellent man Abu Bakr is! What an excellent man Umar is! What an excellent man Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah is! What an excellent man Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas is! What an excellent man Mu'adh bin Jabal is! What an excellent man Mu'adh bin Amr bin al-Jamuh is! And what bad men so-and-so and so-and-so are!" He (peace and blessings be upon him) named seven persons (among the bad men), but Suhayl did not tell us their names. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him): On the day of the Battle of Yamamah I came to Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was applying perfume (in preparation for death). I said: O uncle! Do you not see what the people are facing (in the battle)? So he put on his shrouds and went forward, saying: "Now, now (is the time to face them)." And he began rubbing on the perfume, and an Ansari narrator pointed to his shin (to show) that in this way he began clashing with the enemy (standing firm) before them, and he said: "How bad is the habit your peers have given you! This is not how we used to fight alongside the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." So he kept fighting until he was martyred. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered a speech on the occasion of the arrival of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in Madinah and said: "We will protect you just as we protect our own lives and our children; so what will we get (in return)?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Paradise." He said: "We are content." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it.

Sayyiduna Isma'il bin Muhammad bin Thabit al-Ansari narrates from his father that Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah! I fear that I may have been ruined. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Why?" He said: Allah Almighty has forbidden us from loving to be praised for what we have not done, and I find that I love praise; and Allah has forbidden us from arrogance and self-admiration, while I love beauty and elegance; and we have been forbidden from raising our voices above your voice, while I am a man with a loud voice. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Thabit! Are you not pleased that you live a praiseworthy life, are killed as a martyr, and enter Paradise?" He said: Of course, O Messenger of Allah! So he lived a praiseworthy life and was martyred (in the Battle of Yamamah) against Musaylimah the Liar. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it with this wording. However, Imam Muslim alone recorded this hadith in abridged form through the narration of Hammad bin Salamah and Sulayman bin al-Mughirah, via Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): that when the verse "Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet" [Surah al-Hujurat: 2] was revealed, Thabit bin Qays came (and then the whole story is related).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) came (to the battlefield) on the day of Yamamah, having applied perfume and put on his shrouds, while his companions were being routed. He said: "O Allah! I declare my innocence before You of what these people (the enemy) have brought, and I apologise to You for what these people (the Muslims) have done. How bad is the habit you have given your peers! Clear the way between us and our enemies." Then he charged and fought until he was martyred. His armour had been stolen, and a man saw him in a dream. He told (him in the dream): "My armour is in a cooking pot under a camel saddle in such-and-such a place." He also made some bequests. So when that place was searched, the armour was found exactly where he had said, and then the people carried out his will. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it. And the account of his bequests has a remarkable story:

Ata al-Khurasani narrates: I came to Madinah and went to the daughter of Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas (may Allah be pleased with him), and she related the story of her father. She said that when Allah Almighty revealed to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) this verse: "Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet" [Surah al-Hujurat: 2] and this verse: "Indeed, Allah does not love everyone who is arrogant and boastful" [Surah Luqman: 18] , my father sat in his house and began to weep. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not find him in the gathering and asked about him. He came and said: I am a man with a loud voice, and I fear that my deeds may have been nullified. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Rather, you will live a praiseworthy life, die a martyr's death, and Allah will admit you into Paradise in peace." His (peace and blessings be upon him) words were: 'Bal ta'ishu hamidan, wa tamutu shahidan, wa yudkhiluka Allahu al-jannata bi-salam' (Rather, you will live praiseworthy, die a martyr, and Allah will admit you into Paradise in peace). Then, when he was martyred in the Battle of Yamamah alongside Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him), a Muslim saw him in a dream. He said in the dream: "When I was killed, a Muslim man took off my armour and hid it at the farthest end of the army camp, and it is still with him. He has turned a cooking pot upside down over the armour and placed a camel saddle on the pot. Go to the commander Khalid and inform him, and beware of dismissing it as merely a dream and letting it be lost. And when you reach Madinah, go to the caliph of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), and tell him that I owe such-and-such a debt, which should be paid, and that such-and-such slave of mine is free. And beware of dismissing it as merely a dream and letting it be lost." The narrator says: That man went to Khalid bin al-Walid and informed him, and he found the situation just as he had been told. Then he came to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and informed him, and he carried out his will. We do not know of anyone whose will was carried out in this way, on the basis of a dream, after his death, except Sayyiduna Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas (may Allah be pleased with him). Mention of the virtues of Abu al-As bin al-Rabi' (may Allah be pleased with him), the son-in-law of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):

Muhammad bin Umar relates concerning Abu al-As bin al-Rabi' bin Abd al-Uzza bin Abd Shams bin Abd Manaf bin Qusayy: his name was Miqsam; his mother was Halah bint Khuwaylid bin Asad bin Abd al-Uzza bin Qusayy; and his maternal aunt was Sayyidah Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had married his daughter Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) to him before Islam, and to them were born Ali and Umamah. Ali died in childhood, while Umamah lived on until Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) married her after the passing of Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her). Abu al-As was among those who took part in the Battle of Badr on the side of the polytheists, and he was taken captive by Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Jubayr bin al-Nu'man al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him). Then, when the people of Makkah sent wealth to ransom their captives, his brother Amr bin al-Rabi' came to ransom Abu al-As. I have mentioned in the earlier chapters the events that took place between him and Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her), the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), until Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) passed away. Now hear the account of the good end of Abu al-As, his good Islam and his emigration to Madinah, until his death took place in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).