He went on:

One day he passed by a camel on which a woman was riding; the animal kept lifting its head toward her and bellowing. He said, “It is telling her, ‘You have mounted me while there is a needle in the howdah.’” They made the woman dismount and loosened the saddle-litter, and there was indeed a needle just as he had said (1).

Ibn al-Sikkīt relates that while Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt was drinking one day, a raven croaked. He said to it, “May dust fill your mouth! May dust fill your mouth!” He was asked, “What is it saying?” He replied, “It says that you will drink that cup in your hand, then recline—and die (2).”

The raven croaked again, and he said, “Now it says, ‘As a sign of this I shall alight on that refuse-heap, eat from it, a bone will lodge in my throat, and I shall die.’ The raven then descended upon the dump, pecked at something, a bone stuck in its throat, and it died. Umayyah remarked, ‘It has spoken truthfully about itself; now I shall see whether it has spoken truthfully about me.’ He drank the cup he held, reclined, and died (3).

It is authentically reported in the Ṣaḥīḥ, through Ibn Mahdī, al-Thawrī, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, and Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“The truest word ever uttered by a poet is the word of Labīd:
Beware! Everything apart from God is vanity,
—and Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt was on the verge of accepting Islam.” (4)

Imām Aḥmad said (5): “Rawḥ narrated to us; Zakariyyā ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah narrated to us that he heard ʿAmr ibn al-Sharīd say: My father al-Sharīd said, ‘I was riding behind the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—when he asked me, “Do you have any of the poetry of Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “Recite it to me.” I recited a line, and every time I finished a line he said, “More!” until I had recited one hundred lines. Then the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—fell silent, and so did I.’”

Muslim likewise transmitted it from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah, with this same chain (6), and through several other routes from ʿAmr ibn al-Sharīd, from his father al-Sharīd ibn Suwayd al-Thaqafī, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him (7).