Musnad Ahmad 123:1

Yunus ibn Muhammad narrated to us, he said: Yahya ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Asri narrated to me, Shihab ibn Abbad narrated to us, that he heard some of the delegation of Abd al-Qays saying: We arrived at the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his joy for us was intense. When we reached the people, they made space for us, so we sat down. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, welcomed us and prayed for us. Then he looked at us and said: "Who is your master and leader?" We all pointed to al-Mundhir ibn A'idh. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Is this al-Ashaj?" And it was the first day this name was placed upon him due to a blow to his face from a donkey's hoof. We said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." Some of the people stayed behind, so he tied their mounts and gathered their luggage. Then he took out his bag, cast off his travel clothes, and put on his best garments. Then he approached the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while the Prophet had stretched out his leg and was reclining. When al-Ashaj drew near to him, the people made space for him and said: "Here, O Ashaj." The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sat up straight and drew in his leg, saying: "Here, O Ashaj." So he sat to the right of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who welcomed him, treated him kindly, and asked him about his lands. He named for him village after village: al-Safa, al-Mushaqqar, and others from the villages of Hajar. He said: "By my father and mother, O Messenger of Allah, you are more knowledgeable of the names of our villages than we are." He said: "I have trodden your lands, and it has been opened up for me." He said: Then he turned to the Ansar and said: "O company of Ansar, honor your brothers, for they are your peers in Islam; they are the most similar to you in appearance and complexion. They accepted Islam willingly, not forced, and not having suffered losses, whereas some people refused to accept Islam until they were killed." He said: When morning came, he said: "How did you find the honor of your brothers toward you and their hospitality?" They said: "The best of brothers; they softened our bedding, provided us with good food, and spent the night and morning teaching us the Book of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, and the Sunnah of our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace." The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was pleased with that and rejoiced. Then he turned to us, man by man, testing us on what we had learned and what he had taught us. Some of us knew the *tahiyyat*, the Mother of the Book (al-Fatiha), a surah or two, and the Sunnah. Then he turned his face toward us and said: "Do you have any of your provisions with you?" The people rejoiced at that and rushed to their baggage. Each man among them came with a heap of dates and placed them on a leather mat before him. He gestured with a small stick in his hand, which he used to lean on—it was shorter than a forearm and longer than two forearms—and said: "Do you call this *al-Ta'dud*?" We said: "Yes." Then he gestured to another heap and said: "Do you call this *al-Sarfan*?" We said: "Yes." Then he gestured to a heap and said: "Do you call this *al-Barniy*?" We said: "Yes." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "As for that, it is the best of your dates and the most beneficial for you." He said: We returned from that delegation and planted many of them, and our desire for them grew until the majority of our palm trees and dates became *Barniy*. Al-Ashaj said: "O Messenger of Allah, our land is a heavy, unhealthy land, and if we do not drink these drinks, our complexions become agitated and our bellies swell." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "Do not drink from the *duba* (gourd), the *hantam* (green glazed jar), or the *naqir* (hollowed-out log), and let one of you drink from a waterskin that is tied at its mouth." Al-Ashaj said to him: "By my father and mother, O Messenger of Allah, grant us a concession for something like this," and he gestured with his palms. He said: "O Ashaj, if I grant you a concession for something like this—and he gestured with his palms like this—you will drink it in something like this—and he spread his hands and opened them, meaning something larger—until when one of you becomes intoxicated from his drink, he will stand up to his cousin and strike his leg with a sword." There was a man in the delegation from the tribe of Adal called al-Harith, whose leg had been struck in a drink they had in a house, because of a line of poetry he recited about a woman among them, so some of the people of that house stood up and struck his leg with a sword. Al-Harith said: "When I heard it from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I began to lower my garment to cover the wound on my leg, but Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, revealed it."