It is said that he lived to be one hundred and twenty years old. He would travel from land to land, praising the emirs, and his life was unusually long. Another report maintains that he lived only until roughly the year 70 AH.
Muḥammad ibn Sallām said: “His name is Qays ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUdas ibn Rabīʿa ibn Jaʿda.” (1)
It is also related that he recited the following in praise of Ibn al-Zubayr:
“You have revived for us al-Ṣiddīq when you assumed our reins,
—and Uthmān, and the Farūq—so the penniless now breathe at ease;
You made the people equal in justice, and they became as one—
so the pitch-black night turned into radiant dawn.” (2)
These lines are part of a longer ode. Ibn al-Zubayr thereupon ordered that he be given seven fine she-camels, together with dates and wheat.
Yaʿlā ibn al-Ashdaq is said to have transmitted reports from him, but that is not authentically established. (3)
Some hold that he lived eighty-eight years, while others say even longer. His poetry is widespread and abundant. It is also reported that his name was Ḥayyān ibn Qays, and that he was a man of devoutness and virtue.
= Al-Sijistani, p. 56; Jamhara Ansab al-Arab, p. 289; al-Istiab, pp. 1297 and 1514; Usd al-Ghaba, 4/223 and 5/2; Tahdhib al-Asma wa-l-Lughat, 1/2/120 and 286 (under Qays ibn Adi); Tarikh al-Islam, 3/87; Amali al-Murtada, 1/214; al-Isaba, 3/537; Khizanat al-Adab, 1/512; Sharh Shawahid al-Mughni, 4/382; al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif, p. 292; Simt al-Laʾali, p. 247.
(1) Tabaqat Fuhul al-Shuʿara, 1/123.
(2) Al-Isaba, 3/540; the first couplet is also found in al-Aghani, 5/28.
(3) Tarikh al-Islam, 3/87, reports: Yaʿla ibn al-Ashdaq—who is not considered reliable—said, “I heard al-Nabigha recite before the Prophet (peace be upon him):
We have reached the sky by our glory and our forefathers’ deeds, / and we still hope to display something even higher.
The Prophet asked, ‘What is that higher (madhhar), Abu Layla?’ I replied, ‘Paradise.’ He said, ‘Indeed, God willing.’ I then recited:
There is no virtue in forbearance if it is not backed / by swift action that guards its purity from being muddied.
Nor is there virtue in ignorance if it is not restrained / by a clement man who, when matters arise, resolves them.’
The Prophet said twice, ‘May Allah never break your teeth.’” Al-Hafiz cites this in al-Isaba, 3/539, and notes that it was also transmitted by al-Bazzar, al-Hasan ibn Sufyan in their Musnads, Abu Nuʿaym in Tarikh Isfahan, and al-Shirazi in …