Qais Ibn ‘Asim was a tribal leader during the Age of Ignorance but he later accepted Islam.
Once, during his old age, in order to seek ways to make amends for his past misdeeds, he arrived in the presence of the Noble Prophet (S) and said: “In the past, ignorance had instigated numerous fathers to bury their innocent daughters alive. I too, had buried twelve of my daughters alive at short intervals. My wife gave birth to my thirteenth daughter in secret and, making it appear to me as if it had been a stillborn child, she secretly sent the infant to her own relatives (for upbringing).
Years passed till one day I returned home suddenly and unexpectedly from one of my trips, only to find a small girl in my house. Since she resembled my children, I found myself perplexed till eventually I came to know that she was my daughter.
I immediately took hold of the girl, who was weeping profusely, and took her to a remote location, refusing to permit myself to be affected by her wailing. She kept pleading, ‘I shall return to my maternal uncles and shall never come to your house again’, but I paid no heed to her request and buried her alive.”
When he had narrated this, Qais noticed that tears flowed down the Noble Prophet’s eyes and heard him murmuring: “One who does not look upon others with mercy shall not be looked upon with mercy.”8
Then turning to Qais, he said, “You have difficult days ahead of you!”
“What should I do to lessen the burden of my misdeeds?” inquired Qais.
“For every daughter killed, set free a slave-girl,” replied the Noble Prophet (S). ( Dastan-ha Wa Pand-ha, Volume 1, Page 15; Jahiliyyat Wa Islam, Page 632 )