Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 7131

Abdullah bin Abi Suwayd al-Minqari says: I was present with Sayyiduna Qays bin Asim (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was making his will. He gathered his sons, and they were thirty-two persons. He said: When I die, make the eldest among you your chief, so that he succeeds your father, and do not make the youngest among you your chief, otherwise he will lower your standing before your equals. Do not set up a wailing woman over me, for I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbid wailing. You must take care of wealth, for it is a means of protection for the noble man, and it keeps one independent of the base man. Do not give away camels except for their due right, and do not withhold them from their due right. Beware of every bad lineage, for sometimes a thing that pleases you today will (later) grieve you all the more. Beware of the children of your enemies, for they will be your enemies just as their forefathers were. When I die, bury me in a place that the people of the tribe of Bakr bin Wa'il cannot find out about, for there has been hostility between me and them since the time of Jahiliyyah, and I fear that they will dig up my grave, thereby ruining their world and ruining your Hereafter. Then he called for his quiver and gave an order to his eldest son, whose name was Ali. He said: Take out one arrow from my quiver. He took it out. He said: Break it. He broke it. He said: Take out two arrows. He took out two arrows. He said: Break these two arrows. He broke them both. Then he said: Take out thirty arrows. He took them out. He said: Bind them with a bowstring. He bound them. Then he said: Break them. But he could not break them. He said: O my sons, this is how you will be when you stay together, and this is how you will be when you are apart. Then he recited these verses: "Glory is only what a truthful father has built, and whose deeds his offspring keep alive. Glory, bravery and forbearance suffice, when they are adorned with deeds and generosity. O my sons, if thirty of you make pacts together against the calamities that befall, they are like thirty arrows bound firmly together; they cannot be broken. But if they are separated, the separation destroys them all. Those of age and manly virtue are more deserving that you grant them leadership. And you must look after the young ones, until the struggling youngest reaches maturity."
Al-Tabarani recorded it thus in full in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, except that in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat the first verse is: "Truthfulness is only what builds affection."
Ahmad recorded it, and al-Bazzar recorded a part of it. In al-Tabarani's chain there is a narrator, al-Ala' bin al-Fadl; al-Mizzi says: Some have mentioned him among the weak narrators. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Hakim bin Qays bin Asim, and Ibn Hibban declared him thiqah (trustworthy).