He compiled an important poetry anthology, the Asma'iyyat, and was credited with composing an epic on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad.
A greengrocer at the end of his alley would chide him to just get a job and give up his books, so he set out very early and returned late to avoid him.
[18] After finishing the education of al-Rashid's children, he asked the caliph to order the people of Basra to all greet him on his return and honor him after that.
[14] His ambitious aim to catalogue the complete Arabic language in its purest form, led to a period he spent roaming with desert Bedouin tribes, observing and recording their speech patterns.
Al-Nadīm cites a report of Abū ‘Ubaida that al-Aṣma’ī claimed his father travelled on a horse of Salm ibn Qutaybah.
"[n 8][27] Al-Aṣma’ī's magnum opus Asma'iyyat, is a unique primary source of early Arabic poetry and was collected and republished in the modern era, by the German orientalist Wilhelm Ahlwardt.
[28] Al-Sayyid Muʻaẓẓam Ḥusain's English translation of selected poems taken from both the Aṣma’īyyat and Mufaddaliyyat- the larger important source of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry- is available online.