It is said that Ashʿab was al-Asmaʿī’s maternal uncle.

Sālim related that he once said to Ashʿab, “I swear, it is as though Satan takes on your very form.” Earlier that morning Sālim had met him, treated him to a bowl of harīsa, and then—barely two hours later—found him sallow-faced, his head bandaged, a cane in his hand, hobbling off toward the house of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān.

Al-Zubayr said: People asked Ashʿab, “Shall we find you a wife?” He answered, “Bring me a woman who is filled the moment I belch in her face, and who, if she eats a single locust-thigh, has to clear her throat from being overstuffed.”

It is also reported that his mother once placed him with a cloth-dealer for training. When she later asked, “What have you learned?” he replied, “Half the trade: I have mastered spreading out the cloth; folding it back is still to come.”

Someone roasted a chicken, then set it aside, reheated it, and set it aside again. Ashʿab remarked, “This bird must belong to Pharaoh’s household: ‘The Fire—they are exposed to it morning and evening’ (Q 40:46).”

It is said that he found a dinar, bought a velvet coverlet with it, and then went around calling, “Who has lost a coverlet?” (1)

They also say that a man invited him to dinner. Ashʿab replied, “I know how large your gatherings usually are.” (2) The host promised, “I shall invite no one else.” Ashʿab came, but when a small boy entered, Ashʿab cried, “Where are the constables?” “Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, he is my son,” the host explained, “and he has ten fine qualities—the first is that he never eats with a guest.” Ashʿab said, “Enough! Keep the other nine; let him in.” (3)

He also recounted: “My slave-girl once brought me a dinar, so I slipped it under the prayer-mat. Several days later she came asking for it. I told her, ‘Take whatever it has produced.’ She lifted the mat and found a dirham with it—so she took the ‘offspring.’”