In that same year there also died Ashʿab “the Greedy” (1). His full name was Ashʿab ibn Jubayr, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ—some say Abū Isḥāq al-Madani—and he was known as Ibn Umm Ḥumaydah. His father had been a client of Ibn al-Zubayr and was killed by al-Mukhtār, and Ashʿab was the maternal uncle of the historian al-Wāqidī.
He transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar the report that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to wear his signet-ring on the right hand (2). He also related traditions from Abān ibn ʿUthmān, Sālim, and ʿIkrimah. Clever and irreverent, he was beloved by the people of his day for his drollery and boundless avarice. A skilled singer, he once appeared at the court of the caliph al-Walīd ibn Yazīd. Ibn ʿAsākir gives him a biographical entry in which he records several amusing stories about him (3) and attributes two hadiths to his authority.
It is reported that he was once asked to relate a tradition. He said, “ʿIkrimah narrated to me from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘Two qualities—whoever practices them will enter Paradise.’” Then he fell silent. When he was asked, “What are they?” he replied, “ʿIkrimah forgot one of them, and I forgot the other.”
Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar was fond of making sport of him, enjoying his company and laughing at his antics; he would even take him along to al-Ghābah, and other prominent men behaved likewise.
Al-Shāfiʿī relates that one day some boys began teasing Ashʿab. To drive them off he told them, “Over there some people are handing out walnuts.” The children dashed away, and when he saw how eagerly they ran he said, “Perhaps it is true,” and followed after them.
A man once asked him, “How great is your greed?” He answered, “Never is a bride led through Madinah without my hoping she is being brought to me. I clear out my house, sweep my doorway, and tidy up my home.”
On another occasion he passed a man plaiting a straw tray and said, “Add another tier—or two; perhaps one day it will be sent to us filled with gifts.”