so I related to him the report on the slave-women who had borne children (ummahat al-awlād) traced back to ʿUmar. He turned to Qabīṣah and said, “This is what must be written and dispatched to all the provinces.” I replied, “I shall never find him more at leisure than he is now, and I may not gain entrance again after this.” Then I added, “If the Commander of the Faithful would kindly honor our kinship bond and allot me a stipend, let him do so.” He said, “Enough—up now and be on your way.”

By Allah, I left his presence disheartened, empty-handed from all that I had sought, while at that time I was poor and on the verge of destitution. Presently Qabīṣah came out, faced me with reproach, and said, “What made you do what you did without my permission?” I said, “By Allah, I thought I would never be admitted to him again.” He said, “Come to me at the house.”

I walked behind his mount while people spoke to him until he entered his residence. He had scarcely stayed inside when a servant came out to me with one hundred dinars; he also ordered that I be given a mule, a servant boy, and ten garments. The next morning I rode the mule to him; he brought me in to the Commander of the Faithful and said, “Do not speak to him about anything—I shall see to your affair.”

I offered the salutation, and he motioned for me to sit. He began questioning me about the genealogies of Quraysh; indeed, he knew them better than I did, and I kept wishing he would cut that short, given his superiority over me in the subject. Then he said, “I have assigned you and your household their stipends,” and he ordered Qabīṣah to record it in the register. He then asked, “Where would you like your entry to be—here with the Commander of the Faithful, or in your own land?” I answered, “Commander of the Faithful, I am with you.”

After we stepped outside, Qabīṣah said, “The Commander of the Faithful has ordered that you be enrolled among his personal companions, that the companions’ allowance be paid to you, and that your stipend be raised even higher. So remain at the door of the Commander of the Faithful.” A man had been put in charge of presenting the companions.

I stayed away for a day or two, whereupon he reprimanded me sternly; after that I never absented myself again. ʿAbd al-Malik kept asking me, “Whom have you met?” and I would list those of Quraysh I had encountered. He said, “What of the Helpers? You will find knowledge with them. What of the son of their chief, Khārija ibn Zayd…,” and he named several of them.

So I returned to Medina, questioned them, and heard from them. ʿAbd al-Malik then passed away, so I attached myself to his son al-Walīd, then to Sulaymān, then to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and finally to Yazīd. Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik appointed both al-Zuhrī and Sulaymān ibn Ḥabīb al-Muḥāribī as judges. Afterward I kept the company of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, and Hishām placed al-Zuhrī with his children to teach them and to accompany them on pilgrimage.