Biography of Aws ibn Harithah
324- Aws ibn Harithah al-Ta'i [ (3) ]
Ibn Qani' related, by way of Humayd ibn Munabbih, on the authority of
[ (1) ] al-Tuhfah al-Latifah 1/347.
[ (2) ] Asad al-Ghabah, entry 292.
[ (3) ] Asad al-Ghabah, entry 293, al-Istibsar 266, Tajrid Asma' al-Sahabah 1/35.
his grandfather Aws ibn Harithah, who said: I came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, among seventy riders of Tayyi', and I pledged allegiance to him upon Islam.
Ibn al-Dabbagh added him [to the companions], and Ibn Qani' traced the lineage of Aws ibn Harithah, saying: ibn Li'm ibn 'Amr ... to the end of it. And this is an error, for Aws ibn Harithah ibn Li'm died in the Jahiliyyah, and it was only his grandsons who lived to witness Islam, such as 'Urwah ibn Mudarris [ (1) ] ibn Harithah, and Hani' ibn Qabisah ibn Aws.
And Ibn 'Abd al-Barr mentioned Buhayr ibn Aws ibn Harithah ibn Li'm, and said: regarding his Islam there is [room for] consideration.
I say: And Aws ibn Harithah is not the nearer grandfather of Humayd ibn Munabbih, for he is Humayd ibn Munabbih ibn Harithah ibn Khuraym ibn Aws ibn Harithah ibn Li'm ibn 'Amr ibn Tarif ibn Malik ibn Jad'a' ibn Dhuhl ibn Ruman ibn Jundab ibn Kharijah ibn Sa'd ibn Fatrah ibn Tayyi'. And the grandfather of his father, Khuraym ibn Aws, had companionship [with the Prophet] as will come; and perhaps it was in it [the chain] "on the authority of his grandfather Khuraym ibn Aws ibn Harithah" only [i.e.] Khuraym, and Allah knows best.
And I have come upon that which supports that, namely that Ibn Qani' said: Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Akhbari narrated to us, Zakariyya ibn Yahya narrated to us, Zahr ibn Husayn narrated to us, on the authority of his grandfather Humayd ibn Munabbih, from his grandfather Aws ibn Harithah ibn Li'm al-Ta'i, who said: I came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, among seventy riders of my people, and I pledged allegiance to him upon Islam, the hadith in its full length.
I say: Ibn Qani' abridged it, for he mentioned a portion of it then said: then he mentioned a long hadith; and the mentioned hadith we have related in the section (juz') of Abi al-Sakin, who is Zakariyya ibn Yahya al-Ta'ifi the aforementioned, and the narration of Abi 'Ubayd ibn Jarmuyah the judge from him, he said: the paternal uncle of my father, Zahr ibn Husn, narrated to us, on the authority of his grandfather Humayd ibn Munabbih, who said: My grandfather Khuraym ibn Aws ibn Harithah said: I emigrated to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on his return from Tabuk, so I came to him and embraced Islam, then he mentioned a long hadith.
So it became apparent that the hadith belongs to Khuraym ibn Aws, not to Aws, and Allah knows best.
And in al-Tarikh al-Muzaffari: Aws ibn Harithah ibn Li'm al-Ta'i came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said: «Extend your hand». He said: Upon what? He said: «Upon [the condition] that you bear witness that there is no Allah but Allah, without doubting», «and that you [bear witness] that you are the Messenger of Allah, without misgiving, and upon [the condition] that I strike with this, and he pointed to his sword, whomever you command me [to strike]», so he said: «You have done well, may Allah bless you» [ (2) ].
And his son Khuraym ibn Aws is the companion of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. End.
And perhaps Aws lived long until he reached [the time of] Islam.
[ (1) ] In A: 'Urwah ibn Mudarris ibn Aws ibn Harithah.
[ (2) ] al-Muttaqi al-Hindi cited it in al-Kanz (6341).
Then I saw in the Jamharah of Ibn al-Kalbi that Aws ibn Harithah lived two hundred years. And Abu Mikhnaf Lut ibn Yahya mentioned in the book al-Mu'ammarin: that the aforementioned Aws ibn Harithah lived two hundred years until he became decrepit and his hearing and his reason went, and he was the chief of his people, so his sons departed and left him in their courtyard until he perished in it [through] neglect, on account of which they are reviled to this day; and concerning that al-Ashma' ibn al-Harith ibn Tarif ibn 'Amr ibn Thumamah ibn Malik ibn Jad'a' [ (1) ] al-Ta'i says:
There reached me in the dwelling-place that Aws ... on a stretcher (?) died of emaciation. His family carried him and entrusted him ... [with only] a worn-out garment of woven wool [al-Tawil meter]. End. And this indicates that he died in the Jahiliyyah.