Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū al-Safar, narrated:

It was said to al-Mughīrah, “People accuse you of showing favoritism.” He replied, “Familiarity is useful even with a skittish camel or a vicious dog; how much more, then, with a Muslim.” (1)

ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, from Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, reported that al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah said, “I have married seventy women, or more.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Ṭalaqānī related: Ibn al-Mubārak told us that al-Mughīrah had four wives. He set them in a row before him and said, “You are courteous in manner and graceful of neck, but I am a man who divorces readily; therefore, you are all divorced.” (2)

Ibn Wahb narrated from Mālik:

Al-Mughīrah was much given to marrying women. He used to say, “The man with only one wife—if she falls ill, he is laid low; if she menstruates, he is likewise out of commission. The man with two wives is caught between two blazing fires.” He would marry four at a time and then divorce them all. (3)

Shuʿbah, from Ziyād ibn ʿIlāqah, said: I heard Jarīr say, when al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah died, “I counsel you to fear Allah and to listen and obey until a leader comes to you. Seek forgiveness for al-Mughīrah—may Allah forgive him—for he loved well-being.” (4)

In the version transmitted by Abū ʿAwanah from Ziyād it reads: “for he loved to pardon.”

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, through Ḥuṣayn, through Hilāl ibn Yasāf, through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ẓālim, said:

Al-Mughīrah used to attack ʿAlī from the pulpit, and he appointed preachers who would do the same