already beaten us to him; we used to refer to him as “Qays the Roamer.” (1)

Sharik said, “No one who grew up in Kufah was more zealous in collecting hadith than Qays ibn al-Rabiʿ.”

Qurad stated, “I heard Shuʿbah say: ‘I once sat with Qays in a mosque, and he kept repeating, ‘Abu Husayn narrated to us…,’ until I wished the mosque would collapse on both him and me.’”

Ibn Ḥibbān said, “I have scrutinised Qays’s hadiths and followed them up. I found him truthful and trustworthy while he was young, but when he became old his memory deteriorated and he was tried with a wicked son who would slip hadiths to him; consequently bizarre reports found their way into his narrations. (2)”

ʿAffān said, “When I arrived in Kufah we visited Qays and sat with him. His son began prompting him, saying, ‘Husayn,’ so he would repeat, ‘Husayn,’ and another man added, ‘and Mughirah.’ (3)”

Ibn Ḥibbān also said, “He died in 167 AH.”

The same date was recorded by Abu Nuʿaym al-Mulaʾi.

8 – al-Sayyid al-Himyari, Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn Yazid *

One of the great poets, yet a staunch Rafidi. His full name is Abu Hashim Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Rabiʿah al-Himyari. He composed exquisite panegyrics for the Prophet’s Household; he was—