Some people from the tribe of Abdul-Qays came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, "Prophet of Allah, we are a clan from Rabia, and between us and you are the disbelievers of Mudar. We cannot reach you except during the sacred month. So instruct us with something we can pass on to those we left behind, and by which we may enter Paradise if we hold to it."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "I command you with four things and forbid you from four. Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, establish the prayer, pay the zakat, fast Ramadan, and give one-fifth of the spoils of war. And I forbid you from four vessels, the gourd, the green jar, the pitch-coated vessel, and the hollowed wooden stump."They said, "Prophet of Allah, what do you know of the hollowed stump?"He replied, "Yes, a stump that you hollow out and into which you toss some dates," Saeed said, "or he said, some dried fruit," "then you pour water over it, and once its bubbling subsides, you drink it, until one of you," or he said, "until one of them strikes his cousin with the sword."He said, there was a man among the group who had received just such a wound. He said, I had been hiding it out of shyness before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So I asked, "Then what shall we drink from, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "From leather waterskins whose mouths are tied shut."They said, "Messenger of Allah, our land has many rats, and leather waterskins do not last there."The Prophet of Allah ﷺ said, "Even if the rats eat them, even if the rats eat them, even if the rats eat them."He said, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said to the Ashajj of Abdul-Qays, "You have two qualities that Allah loves, forbearance and deliberation."
إن أناسا من عبد القيس قدموا على رسول الله ﷺ، فقالوا: يا نبي الله، إنا حي من ربيعة وبيننا وبينك كفار مضر، ولا نقدر عليك إلا في الشهر الحرام فمرنا بأمر نأمر به من وراءنا وندخل به الجنة، إذا نحن أخذنا به فقال رسول الله ﷺ: آمركم بأربع، وأنهاكم عن أربع: اعبدوا الله ولا تشركوا به شيئا، وأقيموا الصلاة، وآتوا الزكاة، وصوموا رمضان وأعطوا الخمس من الغنائم، وأنهاكم عن أربع: عن الدباء، والحنتم، والمزفت والنقير. قالوا: يا نبي الله، ما علمك بالنقير؟ قال: بلى حدة تنزع فيه فتنقذون فيه من الشيطاء- قال سعيد: أو قال من التمر، ثم تصبون فيه من الماء، حتى إذا سكن غليانه شربتموه، حتى إن أحدكم- أو إن أحدهم- ليضرب ابن عمه بالسيف. قال: وفي القوم رجل أصابته جراحة كذلك. قال: وكنت أخبأها حياء من رسول الله ﷺ فقلت: فيم نشرب يا رسول الله؟ قال: في أسقية الأدم التي تلاث على أفواهها. قالوا: يا رسول الله، إن أرضنا كثيرة الجرذان، ولا تبقى بها أسقية الأدم. فقال نبي الله ﷺ: وإن أكلتها الجرذان، وإن أكلتها الجرذان، وإن أكلتها الجرذان. قال: وقال نبي الله ﷺ لأشج عبد القيس: إن فيك لخصلتين يحبهما الله الحلم والأناة.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Faith (18) from Yahya bin Ayub, he said, "Ibn Ulaya narrated to us, Saeed bin Abu Aruba narrated to us, from Qatada, who said, 'Someone who met the delegation that came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from Abdul-Qays narrated to us.'" Saeed (Ibn Abu Aruba) said, "Qatada mentioned Abu Nadra, from Abu Saeed, in this hadith of his, 'that some people from Abdul-Qays,'" and he mentioned it.He also narrated it through another route, from Ibn Abu Adi, from Saeed, from Qatada, who said, "More than one person who met that delegation narrated to me." And he mentioned Abu Nadra, from Abu Saeed Khudri, that when the delegation of Abdul-Qays came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with wording similar to the hadith of Ibn Ulaya, except that it contains, "and you pour into it dried dates or fresh dates and water," and he did not say, "Saeed said, or he said, 'from dates.'"He also narrated it through the route of Abu Asim and Abdul-Razzaq. Abdul-Razzaq said, "Ibn Jurayj informed us, he said, Abu Qazaa informed me, that Abu Nadra informed him, and Hasan informed both of them, that Abu Saeed Khudri informed him, that when the delegation of Abdul-Qays came to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ they said, 'O Prophet of Allah, may Allah make us your ransom, what drinks are suitable for us?' He said, 'Do not drink from the hollowed-out tree trunk.' They said, 'O Prophet of Allah, may Allah make us your ransom, do you even know what the hollowed-out trunk is?' He said, 'Yes, it is a trunk that is hollowed out in the middle, nor should you drink from the gourd, nor from the glazed jar, and you should use the waterskin that is tied shut.'"As for his statement, "that Abu Nadra and Hasan informed both of them," Ibn Salah said in Siyanat Sahih Muslim (p. 109-161), "This is one of the difficult problems, and it is no wonder, for a group of mistaken narrators introduced alterations into it. One example of this is the narration of Abu Naeem Asbahani the hafiz in his Mustakhraj ala Kitab Muslim, with his chain, 'Abu Qazaa informed me, that Abu Nadra and Hasan informed both of them, that Abu Saeed Khudri.' This necessarily implies that Abu Qazaa is the one who informed Abu Nadra and Hasan from Abu Saeed, meaning that Abu Qazaa is the one who heard that from Abu Saeed himself. That is far-fetched, and Allah knows best.Another example of this is that Abu Ali Ghassani, the author of Taqyid Muhmal, rejected this narration of Muslim, and the author of Mualim followed him in that, as it is his practice to follow him in matters he mentions regarding the science of chains of transmission, even though he does not name him or give him due credit. Qadi Abu Fadl Ayyad bin Musa declared both of them correct in that. Abu Ali said, 'The correct chain, from Ibn Jurayj, is, "Abu Qazaa informed me, that Abu Nadra and Hasan informed him, that Abu Saeed informed him."' He mentioned that Abu Ali said only "informed him" and did not say "informed both of them," because he attributed the pronoun to Abu Nadra alone, and dropped Hasan due to the matter of disconnected transmission, since Hasan did not hear from Abu Saeed Khudri and never met him. He mentioned that Abu Ali Ibn Sakan reported it with this exact wording, with his chain, in his Musannaf. He said, 'I think this is an emendation made by Ibn Sakan.'Ghassani also mentioned that Abu Bakr Bazzar narrated it likewise in his Musnad Kabir, with his chain, and he related from him, and from Abdul-Ghani bin Saeed the hafiz, that both of them stated that this Hasan is Hasan Basri. But the matter is not as they stated, rather what Muslim presented in this chain is correct, and just as he presented it, Ahmad bin Hanbal also narrated it, from Rawh bin Ubada, from Ibn Jurayj.Hafiz Abu Musa Asbahani defended this, and wrote a fine little book on the matter in which he took pride in his own correctness and accuracy, despite the fact that more than one hafiz had erred regarding it. He stated that this Hasan is Hasan bin Muslim bin Yannaq, from whom Ibn Jurayj narrated other hadiths besides this one, and that the meaning of this statement is that Abu Nadra informed both Abu Qazaa and Hasan bin Muslim of this hadith, then he confirmed that by repeating it, saying, "informed both of them, that Abu Saeed informed him," meaning that Abu Saeed informed Abu Nadra. This is like saying, "Zayd came to me and Amr came to me, and they both said such and such." This is eloquent speech.He argued that Hasan here is Hasan bin Muslim, on the grounds that Salama bin Shabib, who is trustworthy, narrated it from Abdul-Razzaq, and from Ibn Jurayj, who said, 'Abu Qazaa informed me, that Abu Nadra informed him, and Hasan bin Muslim informed both of them, that Abu Saeed informed him,' and so on to the end of the hadith. Hafiz Abu Shaykh also narrated it in his book Mukharraj ala Sahih Muslim.Abu Masud Dimashqi and others dropped the mention of Hasan from the chain altogether, because, given the difficulty surrounding him, he has no real place in the transmission of the hadith. Hafiz Abu Musa mentioned what Abu Ali Ghassani related in his book Taqyid Muhmal on this matter, and he clarified its invalidity, as well as the invalidity of the narration of whoever changed the pronoun in his statement "informed both of them," and other such alterations. He truly did well and excelled, and Allah knows best." Here ends the statement of Ibn Salah.Nawawi quoted this statement in his commentary on Muslim and endorsed it.As for the mention of "Ashajj Abdul-Qays," his name was Mundhir bin Aaidh, as Tirmidhi said, and he is Mundhir bin Aaidh bin Mundhir bin Harith Asri, with two fathas, a companion who settled in Basra and died there.