Humayd said: “Anas lived one hundred years minus one.”
The smallest figure mentioned is ninety-six; the greatest is one hundred and seven. Some have said one hundred and six, others one hundred and three. Allah knows best.
Among them was al-Aslaʿ ibn Sharīk ibn ʿAwf, nicknamed al-Aʿraj (1).
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (2) said: His given name was Maymūn ibn Sinbādh. Al-Rabīʿ ibn Badr al-Aʿraji (3) related—from his father, from his grandfather, from al-Aslaʿ—who said:
“I used to serve the Prophet ﷺ and saddle his mount (4). One night he said, ‘O Aslaʿ, get up and saddle it.’ I replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I am in a state of major ritual impurity.’ He remained silent for a moment, and then Gabriel came to him with the verse concerning purification with dry earth (tayammum) (5). So I wiped myself with earth and prayed. When we reached water he said, ‘O Aslaʿ, get up and perform a full bath (ghusl) (6).’ The Messenger of Allah struck the ground with his hands, shook them off, and wiped his face with them. He then struck the ground again, shook his hands, and wiped his forearms—right over left and left over right, both the outer and inner sides.
Al-Rabīʿ (7) said: “My father showed me this exactly as his father had shown him, as al-Aslaʿ had shown him, just as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had shown.”
Al-Rabīʿ added: “I narrated this report to ʿAwf ibn Abī Jamīlah, and he said, ‘By Allah, that is precisely how I saw al-Ḥasan perform it.’”
Ibn Mandah and al-Baghawī recorded the ḥadīth in their works, Maʿjam al-Ṣaḥābah, through this chain of al-Rabīʿ ibn Badr. Al-Baghawī said: “I do not know that he transmitted anything else.” Ibn ʿAsākir (8) stated that the ḥadīth was also transmitted by al-Haytham ibn Ruzayq al-Mālikī al-Mudlijī, from his father, from al-Aslaʿ ibn Sharīk.
Among them, too, was Asmāʾ (9) ibn Ḥārithah ibn Saʿīd (10) ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ghayāth (11) ibn Saʿd ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Mālik ibn Afṣā al-Aslamī, who belonged to the People of the Bench (ahl al-ṣuffah).
So reported Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (12); he added that Asmāʾ was the brother of Hind ibn Ḥārithah, and that both of them used to serve the Prophet ﷺ.