the eminent Imām, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī—al-Tamīmī, the jurist and master-reciter.
Among those who narrated from him are: Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb, Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Anas ibn Mālik, Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, Abū Wāʾil Shaqīq ibn Salamah, Zayd ibn Wahb, Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nahdī, Murrah al-Ṭayyib, Ribʿī ibn Ḥirāsh, Zuhdam ibn Muḍarrib, and many others.
He is counted among those who recited the Qur’an directly before the Prophet ﷺ; he taught the people of Basra their recitation and gave them deep understanding of the religion.
Those who studied the Qur’an with him include Ḥiṭṭān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Raqāshī and Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿAṭāridī.
In the two Ṣaḥīḥs it is related from Abū Burdah ibn Abī Mūsā, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “O Allah, forgive ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays his sin, and on the Day of Resurrection grant him an honored entry.” (1)
The Prophet ﷺ appointed him, together with Muʿādh, over Zabīd and Aden (2), and he later held the governorship of Kūfa.
= 270, 267; Akhbar al-Qudat, 1/283, 287; al-Jarh wa-l-Ta'dil, 5/138; al-Mustadrak, 3/464; al-Isti'ab, 3/979; Tarikh Ibn 'Asakir, 422, 543; Jami' al-Usul, 9/79; Usd al-Ghabah, 3/367; Tahdhib al-Kamal, 724; Tarikh al-Islam, 2/255; al-'Ibar, 1/52; Ma'rifat al-Qurra, 37; Majma' al-Zawa'id, 9/358; Tabaqat al-Qurra, 1/442–443; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 5/249; al-Isabah, 6/194; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 210; Kanz al-Ummal, 13/606; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 1/29, 30, 35, 36, 40, 46, 47, 53, 62, 63.
(1) Reported by al-Bukhari, 8/35 (Book of Maghazi, chapter: The Expedition of Autas); by Muslim, no. 2498 (Book of Virtues). See also Ibn 'Asakir, p. 445, Majma' al-'Ilmi microfilm, Damascus.
(2) Reported by al-Bukhari: 6/113 (Book of Jihad, chapter: What is disliked of dispute and disagreement in war); 8/50 (Book of Maghazi, chapter: The dispatch of Abu Musa and Mu'adh to Yemen before the Farewell Pilgrimage); 10/435 (Book of Manners, chapter: The Prophet's saying: "Make things easy and do not make them difficult"); and 13/143 (Book of Rulings, chapter: If a governor sends two commanders to the same place, they must cooperate). Also reported by Muslim, no. 1733 (Book of Jihad, chapter: The command to facilitate and avoid repelling).