Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 938

Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Once we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he said: "Whoever here is from Ma'add, let him stand up." Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Sit down!" So he sat down. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever from Ma'add is present here, let him stand up." Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Sit down!" After that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever from Ma'add is present here, let him stand up." Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Sit down!" He said: "O Messenger of Allah! To whom do we belong?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You belong to (the descendants of) Quda'ah bin Malik bin Himyar, which is a well-known lineage, not a disputed one." Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I kept this report hidden until, during the caliphate of Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), he sent a message summoning me and said: "Would you be interested in climbing the pulpit and mentioning Quda'ah bin Ma'add bin Adnan? In return, I will keep giving you the land-tax of the two Iraqs (that is, Kufah and Basrah) and of Egypt for the rest of my life." Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Very well." So it was announced: "Let the people gather!" The people gathered, and Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah (may Allah be pleased with him) came, stepping over the people's necks, and climbed the pulpit. After praising and extolling Allah Almighty, he said: "O people! Whoever knows me knows me, and whoever does not know me, I am Amr bin Murrah al-Juhani. Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan summoned me so that I would climb the pulpit and mention Quda'ah bin Ma'add bin Adnan: Indeed, we are the descendants of the bright and radiant elder, Quda'ah bin Malik bin Himyar, which is a well-known lineage and not a disputed one." Then he came down from the pulpit, and Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "O breaker of promises! What have you done?" He said this three times. Sayyiduna Amr bin Murrah al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is what you have seen, O Commander of the Believers!" Then Sayyiduna Amr's (may Allah be pleased with him) son Zuhayr went after him and said to him: "O my father! There would be no harm to you if you obeyed the Commander of the Believers; he would keep giving you the land-tax of the two Iraqs (that is, Kufah and Basrah) and of Egypt for life." So Sayyiduna Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) recited these verses: "O Zuhayr! Had I obeyed you, you would have clothed me before the people in broad daylight with the mantle of disgrace. Our forefather is Qahtan, to whom we are attributed, and Abu Khuzaymah is Khindif bin Nizar. Is the one who sheds his leaves among the people in the dark of night more excusable, or the one who does so by day? Shall we sell the father to whom we are attributed for the forefather of various groups who is hidden and concealed? That would be a bargain like gold being sold for clods and stones."
Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains the narrator Dalhath bin Dawud. Al-Azdi said: "What he narrates from his forefathers is not authentic." (Allamah Haythami says:) This hadith is also among what he narrated from his forefathers.