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ays b. im b. Sinn b. Khlid b. Minar b. Ubayd b. Muis, Ab Al

(according to other versions: Ab ala or Ab aba), a mukharam chief of

the Ban Muis and leader of his tribe. Tribal tradition emphasised his generosity,

care for people under his protection, mildness and leniency. Al-Anaf b. ays reported

the story, recorded in the compilations ofadab, of how ays b. im received calmly

the news about the murder of his son and magnanimously pardoned the murderer who

was brought fettered into his presence. A poet of Sulaym, Abbs b. Mirds, praised his

noble behaviour towards his djr. He is counted among the magnanimous ones

(ulam) and the nobles of the Djhiliyya who abstained from drinking wine. His re-

introduction of the practice of burying alive female infants is connected with a story of a

woman of his family who, when captured in a raid on the tribe, preferred to remain

with her captor and refused to return to her tribe. In order to prevent the recurrence of

such an ignominy he decided to bury his daughters alive; verses 8-9 of Sra LXXXI are

said to have been revealed in connexion with this practice of ays b. im.

ays is recorded as a leader of his tribe in the stories of the battles which took place in

the first decade of the 7th century. He was victorious in all of his battles, except that of

Abra al-Kibrt where he was captured with his mother and two of his sisters. In the

battle of al-Sitr he is said to have killed atda b. Salama al-anaf; if this report is

true, atda must have been a very old man when ays killed him, as he had already

been a tribal leader during the Expedition of the Elephant and had been warned by

arafa of the advancing troops of Abraha (see Muammad b. abb, al-Munamma, ed.

Khursheed Amad Fariq, Hyderabad 1383/1964, 69). The attack on the Abd ays at

Djuwtha, in which ays distinguished himself, seems to have been led by al-Ahtam.

The attack on the Lahzim (see W. Caskel, amharat an-Nasab, Leiden 1966, ii, 26-

27) at Nibdj-Thaytal was a joint action undertaken by ays at the head of the Muis

and Salma b. arib, chief of the Adjrib (see Caskel, op. cit., 144). His rapid action and

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his effective tactics assured them of victory. In the battle of al-Kulb II (where the tribal

units of Tamm gathered after the slaughter of al-Mushaar) ays became the leader

of the troops of Sad and by his energetic action and bravery helped to win the battle;

the Tamm attacked by allied Yaman tribes took spoils and captives. It was at this

battle, which took place at the beginning of the second decade of the 7th century, that

ays clashed with al-Ahtam. The animosity between these two leaders and the rancour

between ays and al-Zibrin b. Badr are echoed in the recorded verses of hidjand in

the stories about the deputation of Tamm to the Prophet. A mathalstory reports the

part played by Zayd al-Khayl (who left his tribe for some time and dwelt in the camp ofays) in repelling an attack of the Idjl against the Muis; ays denied Zayd's

meritorious deed and because of this gained the epithet the liar.

Tamm tradition stresses the role of ays in the deputation of Tamm to the Prophet,

emphasising that the Prophet was impressed by him and named him the chief of the

nomad people (sayyid ahl al-wabar). A spurious tradition records a conversation

between the Prophet and ays, in which ays told the Prophet that the first man who

applied radjaz in driving camels (id) was the ancestor of the Prophet, Muar; the

first man who received information about the appearance of a prophet named

Muammad was Sufyn b. Mudjshi al-Drim, who accordingly named his new born

son Muammad. It is apparent that the tendency of this tradition is to stress the

Prophet's link with Muar and Tamm. The alleged sincerity of ays' belief is indicated

in a story of his divorce of his beloved wife from the Ban anfa, because she refused

to embrace Islam. The Prophet exhorted ays to donate some of his flocks to the poor

and needy, and is said to have forbidden tribal alliances to be formed in Islam. The

Prophet appointed ays tax collector of the Muis and the Bun (see Caskel, op. cit.,

230).

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After the death of the Prophet, ays seems to have wavered in his loyalty to Medina.

He doubted the stability of the Medina establishment and preferred to divide the taxes

collected for Medina among his tribe. This he apparently did according to some kind of

agreement with al-Zibrin; when al-Zibrin later hurried to Ab Bakr with the taxes

levied from his tribal units, ays felt himself deceived and accused al-Zibrin of

treacherous behaviour. Both leaders showed no hostility towards Medina at the

beginning of the ridda: they escorted Amr b. al- in their territories when he was on

his way from Umn to Medina; they took a neutral stand towards Medina while

waiting to see whether Medina would stand fast against the tribal revolts.

ays further aided Sadj, but no war action of his on her behalf is recorded. After the

revolt of the Ban anfa was crushed, ays joined Al al-aram when he was on

his way to Barayn, but even then he simply escorted him through the territories of the

Sad; only later did he decide to fight on his side. He fought bravely, and is credited

with the killing of al-uam and Abdjar b. Budjayr.

ays settled in Bara. He is said to have had 33 sons and many daughters. alaba b.

ays was known for his generosity; Mutil b. alaba was in the deputation of the

nobles of Tamm and mir b. aaa sent by Ibrhm b. Arab to Abd al-Malik.

Mayya, the daughter of Mutil b. alaba, was the beloved of Dh l-Rumma.

According to Ibn Kathr, ays died in 47/667. He enjoined his sons not to reveal his

place of burial, because he feared the Ban Bakr b. Wil, whom he had fought and who

hated him. Following the example of the Prophet, he gave orders to refrain from

lamentations at his funeral. He was eulogised by Abda b. al-abb in his famous elegy

in which he said The death of ays was not the death of one man: it was [as if] the

edifice of a people had fallen down.

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(M. J. Kister)

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abar, index

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Ab Zayd, al-Nawdir f l-lugha, ed. Sad al-Shartn, repr. Beirut 1387/1967, 92

al-Sharf al-Murta, Aml, ed. Muammad Ab l-Fal Ibrhm, Cairo 1373/1954,

index

al-Marzubn, Nr al-abas, ed. R. Sellheim, Wiesbaden 1964, index

Mufaal al-abb, al-Mufaaliyyt, ed. Ch. Lyall, Beirut 1920, 317, 741

Amad b. Ab hir, Balght al-nis, al-Nadjaf 1361, 51, 87-8

Ibn ubaysh, al-Maghz, Ms. Leiden, Or. 343, pp. 13, 25, 72

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al-Wid, al-Ridda, Ms. Bankipore, Cat. xv, 1042, fols. 27b-29a

Ibn Atham, al-Fut, Hyderabad 1388/1968, 50-51, 53

al-Dji, al-Bayn wa l-tabyn, ed. al-Sandb, Cairo 1351/1932, index

idem, al-ayawn, ed. Abd al-Salm Hrn, Cairo 1384/1965, iii, 490

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Ibn utayba, al-Man al-kabr, Hyderabad 1368/1949, i, 507, ii, 825, 1025

idem, Uyn al-akhbr, Cairo 1349/1930, index

idem, al-Marif, ed. al-w, Cairo 1353/1935, 131 (repr. Beirut 1390/1970)

Muammad b. abb, al-Muabbar, ed. Ilse Lichtenstaedter, Hyderabad 1361/1942,

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Ibn adjar, al-Iba, Cairo 1325/1907, v, 258, no. 7188

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Bukhr, al-Adab al-mufrad, ed. Muibb al-Dn al-Khab, Cairo 1379, 328-9

al-Fattl al-Naysabr, Rawat al-win, al-Nadjaf 1386/1966, 487

Yazd, al-Aml, Hyderabad 1367/1948, 101

al-Wid, Maghz, ed. M. Jones, London 1966, iii, 975, 979

al-Zadjdjdj, al-Aml, ed. Abd al-Salm Hrn, Cairo 1382, 29, 88-9

Ab Dwd, a sunan al-Muaf, Cairo 1348, i, 59

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amza al-Ifahn, al-Durra al-fkhira, ed. Abd al-Madjd amish, Cairo 1971, i,164-5, no. 187, 287-9, no. 400, 324, no. 511

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al-urash, Djamharat ashr al-Arab, Beirut 1383/1963, 34-5

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Ibn Sad, al-abat, Beirut 1380/1960, vi, 319, vii, 36

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Ch. Pellat, Risla fi l-ilm, Beirut 1973, index.

[Print Version: Volume IV, page 832, column 1]

Citation:

Kister, M. J. ays b. im b. Sinn b. Khlid b. Minar b. Ubayd b. Muis, Ab

Al (according to other versions: Ab ala or Ab aba). Encyclopaedia of Islam,

Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C. E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel;

and W. P. Heinrichs.