hadith 8564–9729

Qays bin Abi Hazim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man came to Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: I passed by one of the mosques of Banu Hanifah and heard them reciting something that Allah did not reveal: "By those who grind, grinding; by those who knead, kneading; by those who bake, baking; and by those who feed morsels, feeding." (The narrator) said: Then Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) brought forward their imam, Ibn al-Nawwahah, and had him executed, and he left the rest (considering how many they were) and said: "I will not slaughter them for Satan today. Send them away to Syria, until Allah grants them repentance or the plague wipes them out."
(The narrator) said: Isma'il informed me from Qays bin Abi Hazim that Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: This one, meaning Ibn al-Nawwahah, came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); Musaylimah had sent him to him (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If I were one to kill an envoy, I would have killed you."

It is narrated from Harithah bin Mudarrib (may Allah have mercy on him) that he came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: There is no enmity between me and any of the Arabs, and I passed by a mosque of Banu Hanifah and saw that they believe in Musaylimah. So Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) sent (men) to them and they were brought. He asked all of them to repent except Ibn al-Nawwahah, and he said to him: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: If you were not an envoy, I would have struck off your neck. And today you are no longer an envoy." So he ordered Qarazah bin Ka'b, and he struck off his neck in the marketplace. Then he said: "Whoever wishes to see Ibn al-Nawwahah lying slain in the marketplace, let him look."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Ibn al-Nawwahah: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: If you were not an envoy, I would have killed you. But today you are no longer an envoy." Then he said: "O Harashah! Get up and strike off his neck." So he got up to him and struck off his neck.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Ibn al-Nawwahah: "Do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?" He said: Do you bear witness that Musaylimah is the messenger of Allah? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If you were not an envoy, I would have killed you."

Al-Qasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Someone came to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) (bin Mas'ud) and said to him: O Abu Abdur Rahman! There are some people here who recite the recitation of Musaylimah. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) turned him away. He stayed away for as long as Allah willed, then that man came to him again and said: By the One by whom I swear, O Abu Abdur Rahman! I have just left them in a house, and that mushaf is still with them. So Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) gave orders to Qarazah bin Ka'b, who set off with people accompanying him, and he said: "Bring them." When they were brought, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What is this, after Islam has spread far and wide?" They said: O Abu Abdur Rahman! We seek Allah's forgiveness and repent to Him, and we bear witness that Musaylimah is the liar who fabricates lies against Allah and His Messenger. So Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) had them repent and sent them away to Syria; they were about eighty men. Ibn al-Nawwahah refused to repent, so he gave the order to Qarazah bin Ka'b, who took him out to the marketplace and struck off his neck, and he ordered him to take his head and throw it into his mother's lap. Abdur Rahman bin Abdullah said: Later I met an old man among them in Syria, and he said: May Allah have mercy on your father! By Allah, had we been killed that day, all of us would have entered the Fire.

Al-Qasim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The first to spread the Qur'an (having heard it) from the blessed mouth of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him); the first to build a mosque in which prayer was offered was Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him); the first to call the adhan was Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him); the first whose horse set out early in the path of Allah was al-Miqdad bin al-Aswad (may Allah be pleased with him); the first to shoot an arrow in the path of Allah was Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him); the first of the Muslims to be martyred on the day of Badr was Mihja' (may Allah be pleased with him), the freed slave of Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him); the first tribe to form a bond of affection with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was Juhaynah; and the first to pay charity willingly of their own accord were Banu Udhrah bin Sa'd."

Abdullah bin Ziyad al-Asadi said: I stood beside Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) in the Zuhr or Asr prayer, and I heard him reciting (the Qur'an).

Yazid bin Abi Ziyad said: Someone who saw Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) told me; he said: It is as if I am still looking at him while he was in prostration, keeping his elbows so far away (from his sides) that I could almost see the whiteness of his armpits.

Murrah said: I entered the mosque and said (to myself): I will pray at every pillar. Then I came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him); he was sitting with his companions around him, and they were talking about me. He said: "If the one praying knew that his Lord is at the very first pillar, he would not leave it until he had completed his prayer."

Murrah al-Hamdani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I resolved within myself that I would pray behind every pillar of the mosque of Kufah. While I was praying, Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) came into the mosque. I went to tell him about my (practice), but a man got there before me and told him what I was doing. So Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If he knew that Allah Almighty is at the nearest pillar, he would not leave it until he had completed his prayer."

Abu Abdullah al-Barrad said: I was with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and he said: "Stepping on a burning ember is dearer to me than stepping on the grave of a Muslim."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The wedding feast (walimah) on the first day is a right, on the second day a favour (an extra good deed), and on the third day it is showing off and seeking fame; and whoever shows off, Allah disgraces him."

Abu al-Bakhtari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: There was a dispute between one of the companions of Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) (bin Mas'ud) and his wife, and she said: The only relish you and your children have is from the milk of my goat. So he swore that he would not eat anything of its milk. Then a guest happened to come to them, and she prepared relish for him with the milk of her goat. The man said: You know that I do not eat it. The woman said: By Allah! If you do not eat, I will not eat either. The guest said: By Allah! If you two do not eat, I will not eat either. So they spent the night without supper. The matter reached Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and the man came to him. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: "What came between you and your family?" He said: There was no divorce, no zihar and no ila'. Then he related the whole story. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "I adjure you that when you return to your family, the first thing you do is eat from the milk of this goat; and I think it is better for you to offer expiation for your oath."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah Almighty has not sent down any disease without sending down its cure as well, except death."

Al-Harith bin Qays said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: "O Harith bin Qays! Would you not like to dwell in the middle of Paradise?" I said: Of course. He said: "Then hold fast to the community (of the Muslims)."

Thabit bin Qutbah al-Muzani said: One day Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered a sermon to us the like of which he had never delivered before it nor after it. He said: "O people! Fear Allah, and hold fast to obedience and the community, for these two are the rope of Allah which He has commanded. What you dislike in obedience and the community is better than what you like in division. Allah Almighty has not created anything of this world without setting for it a limit which it will reach, then it will keep decreasing until the Day of Resurrection. Behold! The handholds of Islam have been made firm, and soon they will begin to decrease and keep retreating until the Day of Resurrection. The sign of that is that you will sever your ties of kinship, and destitution will spread so much that the rich will fear nothing but poverty, the poor will find no one to show him kindness, and the beggar will stand between one Friday and the next without anything falling into his hand. While people are in this state, the earth will bellow once with a sound like the lowing of a cow, and every people will think that the sound came from their own courtyard. Then it will stop and bellow a second time, and it will throw out the pieces of its liver." He was asked: What is meant by the pieces of the earth's liver? He said: "Heaps of gold and silver like these pillars. From that day until the Day of Resurrection, gold and silver will be of no use, and no one will find anyone to accept the charity of his wealth from him."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O people! Hold fast to obedience and the community, for these two are the rope of Allah which He has commanded. What you dislike in obedience and the community is better than what you like in division. Allah Almighty has not created anything without setting for it a limit which it will reach. Islam now has firmness and stability, and soon it will reach its limit, then turn back and keep decreasing until the Day of Resurrection. The sign of that is that destitution will increase and ties of kinship will be severed, until the poor will find no one to show him kindness, and the rich will think that what he has is not enough for him, until a man will complain to his brother and his cousin and he will do him no good, and the beggar will walk about between one Friday and the next without anything being placed in his hand. When that happens, the earth will bellow once, and the people of every courtyard will think that it bellowed in their own courtyard. Then there will be calm for as long as Allah wills, then the earth will suddenly vomit out the pieces of its liver." It was said: O Abu Abdur Rahman! What is meant by the pieces of the earth's liver? He said: "Pillars of gold and silver. From that day until the Day of Resurrection, no benefit will be drawn from gold and silver."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Hold fast to this community, for it is the rope of Allah which He has commanded. What you dislike in the community is better than what you like in division. Allah Almighty has not created anything without setting a limit for it. This religion has now been completed, and soon it will move towards decrease. The sign of that is that ties of kinship will be severed, wealth will be taken unlawfully, blood will be shed, a relative will complain to his relative and he will do him no good, and the beggar will go around between one Friday and the next without anything being placed in his hand. While they are in this state, the earth will bellow with a sound like the lowing of a cow and throw out the pieces of its liver; after that no benefit will be drawn from gold and silver."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever establishes the prayer but does not pay the zakah, he has no prayer."

Muhammad bin Zayd bin Khulaydah narrated that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) came to visit him, and he had set out furnishings in his house. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Keep the furnishings of your house light (few), for soon people will become people of the camel-saddle (that is, people on the move)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The believer is sociable, and there is no good in the one who neither gets on with others nor do others get on with him."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to seek refuge from four things, saying: "'Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ghinan yutghini, wa min faqrin yunsini, wa min hawan yurdini, wa min 'amalin yuhzinuni' (O Allah, I seek refuge in You from wealth that makes me transgress, from poverty that makes me forget (You), from desire that ruins me, and from a deed that grieves me)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: "Beware of harsh and bitter words."

Awn bin Abdullah narrated: When the companions of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) came to him, he asked his companions: "Do you sit together?" They said: We do not leave that. He said: "Do you visit one another?" They said: Yes, O Abu Abdur Rahman! If one of us misses his brother, he goes looking for him to the far end of Kufah until he finds him. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You will remain upon good as long as you keep doing that."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Eat only cheese that has been made by the Muslims or the People of the Book."

Abu Ubaydah narrated that when Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) stood for prayer, he would keep his voice, his hand and his gaze lowered.

Al-Nazzal bin Sabrah said: I attended every sermon that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered in Kufah. One day I heard him when he was asked about a man who gives (his wife) eight divorces, and similar (other) issues. He said: "It is as he said." Then he said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty sent down His Book and made it clear. So whoever approaches a matter from its proper direction, the ruling has been made clear for him; and whoever goes against it, then by Allah! We cannot cope with every one of your contrary ways."

Yahya bin Amr bin Salamah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated from his father: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about perpetual fasting (fasting the whole year), and he disliked it and said: "Fasting three days of every month (is sufficient)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Fasting three days of every month removes the burning of the chest (rancour and anger)."

Abu Ubaydah narrated that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say after the bowing (ruku'): "'Allahumma laka al-hamdu mil'a al-samawati wa mil'a al-ardi wa mil'a ma shi'ta min shay'in ba'd, ahla al-thana'i wa al-majd, la mani'a lima a'tayta wa la mu'tiya lima mana'ta, wa la yanfa'u dha al-jaddi minka al-jadd' (O Allah, to You belongs all praise, filling the heavens, filling the earth, and filling whatever else You will thereafter; O You who are worthy of praise and glory! None can withhold what You give, and none can give what You withhold, and the wealth of a wealthy man avails him nothing against You)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Between the heaven and the earth is a distance of five hundred years' travel."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Between the lowest heaven and the one after it is a distance of five hundred years' travel, and between each heaven is a distance of five hundred years' travel, and between the seventh heaven and the Kursi (Footstool) is a distance of five hundred years' travel, and between the Kursi and the water is a distance of five hundred years' travel. The Throne is upon the water, and Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is above the Throne; He knows what you are doing."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The sun rises from Hell, in the horn of Satan and between the (two) horns of Satan. It does not rise even a little in the sky without one of the gates of the Fire being opened, and when the heat becomes intense, all of its gates are opened."

Abu Amr al-Shaybani said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saw some dirhams with a man and asked: "What will you do with them?" He said: I will buy a measure of ghee with them. He said: "Give them to your wife so that she keeps them under her bedding, then buy meat for one dirham every day."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah Almighty has divided your characters among you just as He has divided your provisions among you. Allah Almighty gives wealth to those He loves and to those He does not love, but He gives faith only to those He loves; so when Allah loves a servant, He grants him faith. So whoever is too miserly with his wealth to spend it, and is afraid to fight the enemy in jihad, and shrinks from enduring the night (in worship), let him say abundantly: 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no true god except Allah), 'Allahu akbar' (Allah is the Greatest), 'Al-hamdu lillah' (All praise is for Allah), and 'Subhan Allah' (Glory be to Allah)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Do you know how Islam decreases?" The people said: As the dye of a garment fades, as an animal (weakens and) diminishes, and as a dirham becomes rough from being kept a long time. He said: "That too is part of it (the decrease), but greater than that is the death of the scholars, or their departure."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Sirat (bridge) will be laid across the middle of Hell, like the edge of a sharpened sword, slippery and causing feet to slip. On it will be hooks of fire that will snatch people: some will be seized (by a hook) and fall into it, some will be thrown down, and some will pass like lightning and will not be long in reaching safety; then some like the wind, and they too will not be long; then some like a galloping horse, then some like a running man, then some like a man walking briskly, then some like a man walking, until the last of them will be a man whom the Fire has scorched and who suffered severe hardship in it, until Allah Almighty admits him into Paradise by the grace of His mercy. It will be said to him: 'Wish and ask.' He will say: 'O Lord, are You mocking me, while You are the Lord of Might?' Then it will be said to him (again): 'Wish and ask.' Until, when his wishes run out, He will say: 'You shall have what you asked for, and the like of it along with it.'" (The narrator) said: And Abu Salih narrated to me from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: And ten times as much along with it.

Abu Wa'il (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man from the tribe of Bajilah came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: I have married a virgin girl, and I fear that she will come to dislike me. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Affection is from Allah, and aversion is from Satan, so that he may make hateful to him what Allah has made lawful for him. When you go in to her, tell her to pray two rak'ahs behind you." Al-A'mash said: I mentioned this to Ibrahim, and he told me that Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "And say this supplication: 'O Allah, bless me in my family and bless them in me. O Allah, provide for me through them and provide for them through me. O Allah, keep us together in goodness for as long as You keep us together, and if You separate us, separate us towards goodness.'"

Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami said: A man came to Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: I have married a woman and I fear (her) aversion. He said: "When you go in to her, pray two rak'ahs and say: 'O Allah, bless me in my family and bless them in me. O Allah, keep us together in goodness for as long as You keep us together, and if You separate us, separate us towards goodness.'"

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It may be that a man says: 'Allah has commanded such-and-such and forbidden such-and-such,' and Allah Almighty says to him: 'You have lied.' Or he says: 'Allah has made such-and-such unlawful and such-and-such lawful,' and Allah Almighty says to him: 'You have lied.'"