When he came as part of a delegation to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his people, the Messenger heard them addressing him by the kunyah Abu Hakam. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called him and said, "Allah alone is the Judge, and to Him belongs all judgment. Why then are you given the kunyah Abu Hakam?"He replied, "When my people disagree about something, they come to me, and I judge between them, and both parties are satisfied."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "How excellent this is. How many children do you have?"He said, "I have Shurayh, Muslim, and Abdullah."He asked, "Which of them is the eldest?"I said, "Shurayh."He said, "Then you are Abu Shurayh."
أنه لما وفد إلى رسول الله ﷺ مع قومه سمعهم يكنونه بأبي الحكم، فدعاه رسول الله ﷺ فقال: إن الله هو الحكم، وإليه الحكم، فلم تكنى أبا الحكم؟ فقال: إن قومي إذا اختلفوا في شيء أتوني، فحكمت بينهم فرضي كلا الفريقين، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: ما أحسن هذا، فما لك من الولد؟ قال: لي شريح، ومسلم، وعبد الله، قال: فمن أكبرهم؟ قلت: شريح، قال: فأنت أبو شريح.
Abu Dawud (4955) and Nasai (5387) both narrated it, both through the route of Yazid bin Miqdam bin Shurayh, from his father, from his grandfather Shurayh, from his father Hani, and he related it. Its isnad is hasan because of Yazid bin Miqdam, for his hadith is hasan, and Ibn Hibban graded it sahih (504) from this route.Al-Hakim (4/279) narrated it through the route of Qays bin Rabi, from Miqdam bin Shurayh, from his father, from his grandfather, and he related it. Al-Hakim said, "Qays alone narrated it from Miqdam, and it does not meet the standard of this book." So he said! But this is contradicted by the narration of Yazid bin Miqdam, who corroborates Qays bin Rabi.Note, in the printed Mujtaba, the phrase "from his father" has dropped out of Nasai's isnad, so the narration reads Yazid bin Miqdam bin Shurayh, from Shurayh. The missing phrase is present in Sunan al-Kubra (5907), and the isnad is the same. In fact, it is also present in the original text of the Mujtaba, as shown in Tuhfat Ashraf (9/68).