al-Ahnaf ibn Qays

al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, and al-Aḥnaf is a nickname given to him because of a curvature in his leg, and his name is Ḍaḥḥāk,

and it was said: Ṣakhr ibn Qays ibn Mu'āwiyah ibn Ḥuṣayn ibn 'Ubādah ibn al-Nazāl ibn Marrah ibn 'Ubayd ibn al-Ḥārith ibn 'Amr ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Zayd Manāt ibn Tamīm, Abū Baḥr al-Tamīmī al-Sa'dī.

He lived during the time of the Prophet ﷺ but did not meet him, and the Prophet ﷺ prayed for him, which is why they mention him; his mother was a woman from Bāhilah.

& Abū al-Faraj Yaḥyā ibn Maḥmūd ibn Sa'd al-Thaqafī informed us, by way of permission, with his chain of narration to Ibn Abī 'Āṣim, who said: Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā told us, who said: Ḥajjāj told us, who said: Ibn Salamah told us, from 'Alī ibn Zayd, from al-Ḥasan, from al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, who said: while I was circumambulating the House during the time of 'Uthmān, a man from Banī Layth took my hand, and said: shall I give you good news? I said: yes, he said: do you remember when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me to your people, and I presented Islam to them and called them to it, and I said: you are calling to good and commanding it, and he is also calling to good, and that reached the Prophet ﷺ and he said: O God, forgive al-Aḥnaf, and al-Aḥnaf used to say: therefore, I do not see any of my deeds as more hopeful than that, meaning: the supplication of the Prophet ﷺ and al-Aḥnaf was one of the wise, insightful, and intelligent people.

He came to 'Umar as part of the Basra delegation and saw from him reason, religion, and good manners, so 'Umar kept him for a year, then brought him and said: O Aḥnaf, do you know why I detained you? he said: no, O Commander of the Faithful, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ warned us against every knowledgeable hypocrite, and I feared that you might be one of them, then he wrote a letter with him to 'Alī, the governor of Basra, saying: al-Aḥnaf is the leader of the people of Basra, and from that day on, he continued to rise.

He was one of those who abstained from the war between 'Alī and 'Ā'ishah ﵄ at the Battle of the Camel, and witnessed Ṣiffīn with 'Alī, and remained until the time of Muṣ'ab ibn al-Zubayr's governorship of Iraq, and died in Kūfah in 67 AH, and Muṣ'ab ibn al-Zubayr, who was the governor of Iraq for his brother 'Abd Allāh, walked in his funeral.

Abū al-Ḥasan al-Madā'inī mentioned that he left behind his son Baḥr, and he was nicknamed after him, and Baḥr died, and his lineage ended among males, and God knows best.

Reported by the three (Ibn Manda, Abū Nuʿaym, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr) of them.