Al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid narrated from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ regarding the Divine words,
“Indeed, those who call out to you from behind the apartments …” (al-Ḥujurāt 49:4).
He said: A man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and declared, “O Muḥammad, my praise is an adornment and my criticism a disgrace.” The Prophet replied,
“That prerogative belongs to Allah.”
This chain is sound and uninterrupted, though al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Qatādah also report it in mursal form.
The man’s name is given in another narration. Imām Aḥmad (d. 241 AH) said: ʿAffān related to us; Wuhaib related to us; Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah related to us, from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis, that he called out to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, “O Muḥammad, O Muḥammad”—in another wording, “O Messenger of Allah!”—yet the Prophet did not answer him. He then said, “O Messenger of Allah, my praise is indeed an adornment and my censure a disgrace.” The Prophet replied,
“That prerogative belongs to Allah.”
A report on the virtue of Banū Tamīm
Al-Bukhārī (d. 256 AH) said: Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb related to us; Jarīr related to us, from ʿUmārah ibn al-Qaʿqāʿ, from Abū Zurʿah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:
“I shall continue to love Banū Tamīm for three statements I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ make about them:
- ‘They are the staunchest of my community against the Antichrist.’
- A captive girl from among them was in ʿĀʾishah’s possession, so he said, ‘Set her free, for she is descended from the children of Ishmael.’
- Their alms were once brought to him and he remarked, ‘These are the charity contributions of a people—indeed, of my own people.’”
Muslim (d. 261 AH) also transmits this report from Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb.
This ḥadīth refutes the verses cited by the author of al-Ḥamāsah and others who lampooned the tribe, such as:
Tamīm, along the roads of baseness, is surer-footed than the sand-grouse;
were it to tread the paths of right guidance, it would go astray.
And if a flea upon the back of a louse were sighted from afar,
Tamīm would wheel about and flee.
The Delegation of Banū ʿAbd al-Qays
Al-Bukhārī (d. 256 AH) next said, after the chapter on the delegation of Banū Tamīm: “Chapter: The Delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays.” Ishāq related to us; Abū ʿĀmir related to us