Hurqūṣ ibn Māzin relates:
“We were heading for Ibn Jafnah, the king of Ghassān. When we drew near Syria we camped beside a pool shaded by a few trees. As we were talking, a monk overheard our conversation. He looked out toward us and said,
‘This tongue you are speaking is not the language of the people of this country.’
‘That is correct,’ we replied. ‘We are a people of Muḍar.’
He asked, ‘From which branch of Muḍar?’
‘From Khindif,’ we said.
He then declared, ‘Know that a prophet—the Seal of the Prophets—will be sent among you very soon. Hurry to him and take your portion of guidance from him, and you will prosper.’
We said, ‘What is his name?’
He answered, ‘His name is Muḥammad.’
“So we returned from Ibn Jafnah, and each one of us was later blessed with a son, and each of us named his boy Muḥammad—each man hoping that the foretold prophet might be his own child.”
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Kharāʾiṭī also said:
“ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Saʿd narrated to us; Ḥāzim ibn ʿIqāl ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Mundhir ibn Abī al-Ḥiṣn ibn al-Samawʾal ibn ʿAdiyā narrated to us; and Jāmiʿ ibn Khayrān ibn Jumayʿ ibn ʿUthmān ibn Samāk ibn Abī al-Ḥiṣn ibn al-Samawʾal ibn ʿAdiyā narrated to me:
When death approached al-Aws ibn Ḥārithah ibn Thaʿlabah ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir, his kinsmen of Ghassān gathered around him and said:
‘You can see that the decree of God has come. In your youth we urged you to marry, but you refused. Your brother al-Khazraj now has five sons, while you have no child save Mālik.’
He replied, ‘No man is truly lost who leaves behind one like Mālik. He who brings forth fire from al-Wathīmah is surely able to grant Mālik offspring—valiant men—and in the end every soul must die.’
Then he turned to Mālik and said:
‘My son, death is better than disgrace; punishment is preferable to reproach; fortitude is better than hesitation; the grave is better than poverty. He who has few supporters is humble; it is part of a noble man’s honour to defend his womenfolk. Time is but two days: one for you and one against you. When it is for you, do not exult; when it is against you, be patient—for both will pass. Neither the crowned king nor the dishonourable lowborn can escape them. Submit to the day allotted to you—may your Lord preserve you.’
He then began to recite:
[from the Ṭawīl metre]