He asked, “And what does he want?”

I replied, “He forbade me to tell you.”

He said, “Then I will give you the rooster and the hen.”

So I stipulated that he must not report the matter to ʿUmar; I told him, and he handed them over to me.

When I returned to ʿUmar he said, “Did you inform him?”—by Allah, I could not bring myself to say “No,” so I answered, “Yes.”

He said, “Did he bribe you?”

I replied, “Yes, and I told him.”

He seized my hand with his left, began lashing me with the whip while I jumped about, and said, “You are certainly a tough one!”

Then he added, “You hide behind the kunya Abū ʿĪsā—does Jesus have a father? (1)”

Abū ʿUbayd said: Aslam died in the year 80 AH.

Ibn Saʿd said (2): He passed away during the caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik.

Abū Zurʿa said: He was a Madinan and reliable.

It is also said that he lived one hundred and fourteen years, but this is not established.

32 – Shurayḥ the Judge, Abū Umayya ibn al-Ḥārith al-Kindī * (S)

He is the jurist Abū Umayya, Shurayḥ ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Qays ibn al-Jahm al-Kindī, the judge of Kūfa.

Some say he was Shurayḥ ibn Sharāḥīl, or ibn Shuraḥbīl.

Another view holds that he descended from the Persians who had settled in Yemen.

It is claimed that he was a Companion, but that is not sound. Rather, he was among those who embraced Islam during the Prophet’s lifetime and later moved from Yemen in the era of al-Ṣiddīq (Abū Bakr).