—by Allah, he did not even loosen the cord of his ḥabwah (the wrap that held his knees) until he had finished speaking. Then he turned to one of his sons who was present (1) and said, “Release your cousin, bury your brother, and send his mother one hundred camels, for she is a stranger here.” [He then looked at his nephew and said, “You have diminished your own number, severed your kinship tie, disobeyed your Lord, and obeyed your devil.”] (2)

It is also related that when death drew near, his sons—thirty-two males—sat around him. He said to them, “My sons, give authority to your eldest that he may stand in your father’s place; do not set the youngest over you, for your peers will then look down on you. Guard your wealth and cultivate it, for it is the finest thing a generous man can bestow (3) and it spares one from having to turn to the ignoble. Refrain from begging of people, for that is among the most degrading ways a man can earn. Do not wail over me, for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was not wailed over. And do not bury me where Bakr ibn Wāʾil might find out, for I was their enemy in the Jāhiliyyah.” (4)

Concerning him a poet said (5):

Upon you be Allah’s peace, O Qays ibn ʿĀṣim,
and His mercy for as long as He wills to show mercy.
A greeting from one whom your favor once ennobled—
merely recalling such deeds fills the mouth with praise (6).
The death of Qays is not the fall of one man alone;
it is the collapse of an entire people’s rampart.

Then came the year 48 AH. That winter Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qaynī (7) stationed the Muslim forces in the region of Antioch [for jihad] (8). In the same year ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir led the people of Egypt on a naval expedition, and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, the governor of Medina, led the pilgrimage.