Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 8598 — News reached Sayyiduna Abdullah bin

News reached Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that some people sat from Maghrib until Isha glorifying Allah and saying: Say such-and-such, and say such-and-such. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When they sit, inform me." So when they sat, people came to him, and he set off and went and sat among them, wearing a burnus (a hooded cloak) on his head. They became occupied with their glorification, so Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) removed the burnus from his head and said: "I am Abdullah bin Mas'ud." The people fell silent, and he said: "You have introduced a dark innovation (bid'ah); or have you surpassed the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in knowledge?" At that, a man from Banu Tamim said: We have neither introduced a dark innovation nor surpassed the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in knowledge. Amr bin Utbah bin Farqad said: O Ibn Mas'ud, I seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. Then he ordered them to disperse. The narrator said: And Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saw two circles in the mosque of Kufah, so he stood by them and said: "Which of you was formed before the other?" One of them said: We were. So he said to the other circle: "Get up and go over to them." Thus he made them into a single circle.