She was a contemporary of Muhammad, and eventually converted to Islam. It is said that the prophet Muhammad would ask her to recite some of her poetry for him, and he would love listening to her. Whenever she paused after a recital, he would gesture her to keep going and say, "Go on, Khunās!" The prophet Muhammad even rated al-Khansāʾ over the great Imru' al-Qais, the most famous poet of the classical Arabic tradition, as the one with greater poetic abilities.