Abu al-Bakhtari narrates: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was informed that some people sit between Maghrib and Isha and say (to one another): Recite this! Recite this! Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When they start doing that, inform me. When they sat down, other people came to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) went with them and sat down there. He had a hood on (that is, he had covered his face). When those people began their glorification, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) removed the hood from his head and said: I am Abdullah bin Mas'ud. The people fell silent. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: You have committed an innovation wrongfully; if that is not so, then do you have superiority over us, that is, over the Companions of Muhammad? Amr bin Utbah bin Farqad said: O Ibn Mas'ud! I seek forgiveness from Allah Almighty and turn to Him in repentance. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered those people to disperse. The narrator says: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saw two circles in the mosque of Kufah, so he stood between them and asked: Which of your two circles was formed first? The members of one circle said: We (formed our circle first). Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the members of the other circle: Get up and join them! Thus Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) made them a single circle.
Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains Ata bin al-Sa'ib, who is thiqah (trustworthy) but suffered from mental confusion (ikhtilat). In some of Tabarani's sound chains this report is narrated in abridged form (with these words): Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) came with his head covered and said: Whoever knows me, knows me; and whoever does not know me, I am Abdullah bin Mas'ud. Are you more rightly guided than Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions? Or else you are clinging to the sin of misguidance? In one narration of Ata bin al-Sa'ib the words are: Then Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: If you follow the people (that is, the Companions), they have already outstripped you by a great and clear distance; and if you take the path to the right and the left, you will fall into far misguidance.
Hadith Referenceمجمع الزوائد ومنبع الفوائد / كتاب العلم / 855
Hadith Gradingمحدثین:إسنادہ منقطع
Hadith Takhrij«اخرجه الامام الطبراني فى معجمه الكبير 8630»