Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 1198

Translation

✧ Some of the delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays heard him mention: When we set out on our delegation to the Prophet ﷺ, we traveled until when we neared our arrival, a man met us, urging his riding camel on. He greeted us, we returned his greeting, then he stopped and said, "From which people are you?" We said, "The delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays." He said, "Welcome to you. It is you I was seeking. I came to bring you good news." The Prophet ﷺ said to us yesterday: "He looked toward the east and said, 'Tomorrow there will surely come from this direction — meaning the east — the best delegation of the Arabs.'" So I spent the night going back and forth until morning. I saddled my riding camel and hastened in my travel until the day rose high, and I considered turning back. Then the heads of your mounts appeared. Then he turned his camel by its reins, heading back, urging it as he had at first, until he reached the Prophet ﷺ with his companions around him from the Emigrants and the Helpers. He said, "May my father and mother be your ransom, I have come to bring you good news of the delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays." He said, "How did you come by them, O ʿUmar?" He said, "They are these, on my tracks, and they have drawn near." He mentioned that, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "May Allah give you good news of good." The people prepared themselves in their sitting places. The Prophet ﷺ was sitting, and he cast the end of his cloak under his arm and leaned on it, and stretched out his legs. The delegation arrived, and the Emigrants and the Helpers rejoiced at them. When they saw the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, they urged their mounts in joy at them and came quickly. The people made room, and the Prophet ﷺ was leaning as he was. Al-Ashajj lagged behind — he was Mundhir b. ʿĀʾidh b. Mundhir b. al-Ḥārith b. al-Nuʿmān b. Ziyād b. ʿAṣar. He gathered their mounts, made them kneel, unloaded their baggage, and gathered their belongings. Then he brought out a bag of his, removed his travel clothes, put on a fine garment, then came walking slowly and deliberately. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Who is your chief, your leader, and the one in charge of your affairs?" They all pointed to him. He said, "Is this the son of your chiefs?" They said, "His forefathers were our chiefs in the time of ignorance, and he is our leader to Islam." When al-Ashajj reached them, he wanted to sit to one side, but the Prophet ﷺ sat up straight and said, "Here, O Ashajj." That was the first day he was called al-Ashajj: a donkey had struck him with its hoof when he was a weanling, and his face had something like the moon (a scar). He seated him at his side, was gentle with him, and recognized his excellence over them. The people came to the Prophet ﷺ, asking him questions and he informed them, until at the end of the conversation he said, "Do you have anything of your provisions with you?" They said, "Yes." They rose quickly, each man to his baggage, and came with heaps of dates in their palms. They were placed on a leather mat before him. Before him was a palm branch, less than two cubits or more than a cubit, which he used to lean on and rarely parted with. He pointed with it to a heap of those dates and said, "Do you call this al-taʿḍūḍ?" They said, "Yes." He said, "And do you call this al-ṣarfān?" They said, "Yes." "And do you call this al-barnī?" They said, "Yes." He said, "It is the best of your dates and the most beneficial for you." One of the elders of the tribe said, "And the greatest in blessing. We used to have it only as a fodder date, feeding it to our camels and donkeys. When we returned from that delegation, our desire for it grew, and we planted it until our date palms changed to it, and we saw blessing in it."

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