Al-Ashajj of Abd al-Qays

Al-Ashajj was the youngest man in the delegation that the tribe of ʿAbd al-Qays sent to Madinah in 5 AH, reckoned the earliest delegation of all. Al-Ashajj is not a name but a nickname, meaning the one with the wound or the fracture, from a scar on his head; his actual name is uncertain, and the shaykh notes it may have been ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAwf.

When the delegates reached Madinah and rushed to the Prophet ﷺ in their excitement, al-Ashajj alone hung back, washed himself, put on good clothes and perfume, and only then presented himself. The Prophet ﷺ told him: إِنَّ فِيكَ لَخَصْلَتَيْنِ يُحِبُّهُمَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ, in you are two qualities that Allah and His Messenger love: الْحِلْمُ وَالْأَنَاةُ, forbearance and unhurried deliberation. He asked whether he had acquired them himself or Allah had placed them in him, and was told: بَلْ جُبِلْتَ عَلَيْهِمَا, rather, you were created upon them. His reply, all praise to Allah, who created me upon two qualities that He loves, is what made the incident famous.

The ḥadīth of this delegation, in which the Prophet ﷺ answered their request for something they could carry back to their people, is agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and is much discussed by theologians because it defines īmān with what the ḥadīth of Jibrīl gives as the definition of Islam.