some elders from Shaʿbān—among them Muḥammad ibn Abī Umayyah, a learned man—related the following: a torrent once struck Yemen, and the flood scoured away part of the ground, exposing an azaj (1) topped by a stone door. The lock was broken and they entered, to find a vast hall containing a throne of gold. Seated upon it was a man; when we measured him, his height came to twelve hand-spans. He was clad in robes of brocade woven with gold, a golden crook lay at his side, and on his head gleamed a red ruby. The man’s hair and beard were white and braided into two plaits. Beside him was a tablet written in Himyarite script:

“In Your name, O Allāhum, Lord of Himyar. I am Ḥassān ibn ʿAmr, the Qayl (2)—for there is no Qayl but Allah. I lived in hope and died at the appointed time, in the days of Wakhzuhayda (3). And what is Wakhzuhayda? In it twelve thousand Qayls perished, and I was the last of them. I came to Mount Dhī Shaʿbayn seeking refuge from death, but it betrayed me.”

Next to him lay a sword on which was inscribed: “I am a Qayl; through me vengeance is attained.”

Shuʿbah, from Manṣūr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Shaʿbī, said: “I met five hundred of the Prophet’s Companions (4).”

Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Makḥūl, said: “I never saw anyone more knowledgeable than al-Shaʿbī (5).”

Hushaym narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim, from al-Shaʿbī, who said: “No relative of mine ever died…”