The meeting of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) with Uways al-Qarani and the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) description of him

It is narrated from Usayr bin Jabir that whenever reinforcements came from Yemen to the Commander of the Faithful, Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), he would ask them: "Is Uways bin Amir among you?" Until (one time) Uways himself came to him. He asked: Are you Uways bin Amir? He replied: Yes. He asked: From the tribe of Murad, and then from its branch Qaran? He said: Yes. He asked: Did you have leprosy (white patches) which was all cured except for a spot the size of a dirham? He said: Yes. He asked: Is your mother alive? He said: Yes. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Uways bin Amir will come to you with the reinforcements of the people of Yemen, from Murad and then from Qaran. He had leprosy which was cured except for a spot the size of a dirham. He has a mother to whom he is most dutiful. If he were to swear an oath by Allah, Allah would certainly fulfil it. So if you are able to have him ask forgiveness for you, then do so." (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)) said: So ask forgiveness for me. So he prayed for him. Then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: Where do you intend to go now? He said: To Kufa. He said: Shall I not write a letter of recommendation for you to its governors so that they treat you well? He submitted: "Living among the obscure common people is dearer to me." Then when the following year came, one of the nobles of Kufa performed Hajj. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him about Uways: In what state did you leave him? He submitted: I left him in a state where his house was in a poor condition and his belongings were very meagre. Then he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Uways bin Amir will come to you with the reinforcements of the people of Yemen" (and he repeated the same words). So when that man returned (from Hajj), he came to Sayyiduna Uways and said: Ask forgiveness for me. Uways said: You have just returned from a righteous journey; you ask forgiveness for me. He insisted again, so Uways asked: Did you meet Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)? He said: Yes. Then Uways asked forgiveness for him. The narrator says: Then the people came to know of his greatness, so he left from there (for the sake of obscurity) and went elsewhere. Usayr says: I had given him a cloak (burd) to wear, and whenever anyone saw him wearing that cloak, he would say (in astonishment): Where did Uways get this fine cloak from?
This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it with this wording!

It is narrated from Usayr bin Jabir that when the people of Yemen came, Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) began searching their caravans (for Uways al-Qarani), asking: "Is there anyone among you from the tribe of Qaran?" Until he came upon people of the tribe of Qaran. He asked: "Who are you?" They said: "We are from Qaran." Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) took hold of the reins of Uways's mount, and he recognised him by his description. He asked him: "What is your name?" He replied: "I am Uways." He asked: "Is your mother alive?" He said: "Yes." He asked: "Is there any whiteness (a mark of leprosy) anywhere on your body?" He said: "Yes. I prayed to Allah and He removed it all except for a spot the size of a dirham near my navel, so that through it I may remember my Lord." Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "Ask forgiveness for me." He submitted: "You are more entitled than I to ask forgiveness for me, because you are a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'Indeed, the best of the Tabi'in is a man called Uways al-Qarani. He has a mother, and there was whiteness on his body; he prayed to his Lord and Allah removed it all except for a spot the size of a dirham near his navel.'" The narrator says: So Uways asked forgiveness for him. Then he merged into the crowds of common people, and no one knew where he had gone. Usayr says: Then he came to Kufa. We used to gather in a circle for the remembrance of Allah, and he would sit with us. When he admonished us, his words would affect our hearts in a way that no one else's words did. Then one day he did not come, so I asked one of my companions: "What has happened to that man who used to sit with us? Perhaps he has fallen ill." A man asked: "Who is he?" I said: "Who is he (do you not know)?" He said: "That is Uways al-Qarani." So I was directed to his house. I came to him and said: "May Allah have mercy on you, where have you been, and why did you leave us?" He replied: "I had no cloak to wear; that is why I could not come to you." Usayr says: I held out my cloak to him, but he threw it back to me. I stayed aside for a while, then he said: "If I were to take this cloak of yours and wear it, and the people of my tribe saw me wearing it, they would say: Look at this show-off; he beguiled this man with his talk and got his cloak out of him." Usayr says: I kept insisting until he took the cloak. I said: "Come with me so that I may hear what they say." He put on the cloak and we went out. When we passed by the gathering of his people, they began saying: "Look at this show-off; he tricked this man and took his cloak." I turned towards them and said: "Are you not ashamed? Why do you hurt him? By Allah, I myself offered him this cloak, but he refused to accept it." The narrator says: Then delegations of the Arab tribes came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and among them was the chief of his people. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked them: "Is there anyone among you from the tribe of Qaran?" Their chief said: "Yes, I am." He asked: "Do you know a man of Qaran called Uways, whose condition is such-and-such?" He submitted: "O Commander of the Faithful! Why do you ask about him? He is just an ordinary man." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "May your mother weep for you! (that is, woe to you) Go and find him!" He said this two or three times, then said: "Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to us: 'There is a man of Qaran called Uways, whose standing is such-and-such.'" So when that chief returned (to Kufa), he met Uways before meeting anyone else and said to him: "Ask forgiveness for me." He asked: "What has happened to you (that this request has suddenly arisen)?" He said: "Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) told me such-and-such things about you." Uways said: "I will not ask forgiveness for you until you make three promises to me." He asked: "What are they?" He said: "First, that you will not trouble me from now on; second, that you will not tell anyone what Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to you." And he forgot the third.

It is narrated from Imam al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Through the intercession of one man of my Ummah, more people will enter Paradise than (the combined number of the great tribes of) Rabi'ah and Mudar." Hisham says that Hawshab told him, on the authority of al-Hasan al-Basri, that this man is Sayyiduna Uways al-Qarani. Abu Bakr bin Ayyash says: I asked a man from his people: By what deed did Uways reach this lofty rank? He replied: It is the bounty of Allah, which He grants to whom He wills.