hadith 8564–9729

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke concerning the saying of Allah Almighty: "And (forbidden to you are) married women, except those whom your right hands possess" [Surah al-Nisa: 24]. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Idolatrous women, when they are taken captive, become lawful." And Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "This ruling applies to married women of both kinds, idolatrous and Muslim."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, concerning the saying of Allah Almighty: "And the companion at your side" [Surah al-Nisa: 36]: "It means the wife."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, concerning the saying of Allah Almighty: "And We will surely make them taste the lesser punishment (before the greater punishment of the Hereafter)" [Surah al-Sajdah: 21]: "It is the day of Badr." And concerning "the greater punishment, that perhaps they will return" [Surah al-Sajdah: 21], he said: "That is, those of them who remain may repent and turn back."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is written in the Torah: For those whose sides forsake their beds there is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never occurred to the heart of any human being. And the same is in the Qur'an: 'No soul knows what has been hidden for them of the coolness of the eyes' [Surah al-Sajdah: 17]."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Even the dung beetle (ju'al) is punished in its burrow because of the sins of the children of Adam." Then he recited this verse: "And if Allah were to seize people for what they have earned, He would not leave upon its surface a single creature" [Surah Fatir: 45].

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "By those lined up in rows" [Surah al-Saffat: 1]: "This refers to the angels." "And those who drive (the clouds)" [Surah al-Saffat: 2]: "This refers to the angels." "And those who recite the remembrance" [Surah al-Saffat: 3]: "This refers to the angels."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Among the seven heavens there is one heaven in which there is not a hand-span of space but that upon it is the forehead of an angel or his two feet, standing." Then he recited: "And indeed, we are those who line up in rows, and indeed, we are those who glorify (Allah)" [Surah al-Saffat: 166].

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "And he overpowered me in speech" [Surah Sad: 23]: "Dawud (peace be upon him) said nothing more than: 'Entrust her to me' [Surah Sad: 23]."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "Our Lord, You caused us to die twice and You gave us life twice" [Surah Ghafir: 11]: "It is like what is in Surah al-Baqarah: 'You were lifeless and He gave you life; then He will cause you to die, then He will give you life, then to Him you will be returned' [Surah al-Baqarah: 28]."

A hadith like the narration of Isra'il is also narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him).

Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We were sitting in the mosque when a man came to us who was narrating; he said: On the Day of Resurrection a smoke will come which will seize the hearing of the hypocrites and will afflict the believers with something like a cold. So we went to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and told him this while he was reclining. He sat up and said: O people! Whoever has knowledge of something, let him speak of it, and whoever does not know, let him say: Allah knows best. For it is part of a man's knowledge that he says about what he does not know: Allah knows best. And Allah Almighty said to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Say: I do not ask you for any reward for it, nor am I of those who pretend" [Surah Sad: 86]. And I will tell you about the Dukhan (the smoke): When Quraysh rebelled and delayed in accepting Islam, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated against them and said: "O Allah, help me against them with seven (years of famine) like the seven years of Yusuf (peace be upon him)." So a famine struck them until everything was wiped out, to the point that they ate carrion and bones, until a man began to see something like smoke between himself and the sky. And that is the saying of Allah Almighty: "So wait for the Day when the sky will bring a visible smoke, covering the people; this is a painful punishment. Our Lord, remove the punishment from us; indeed, we are believers" [Surah al-Dukhan: 11]. So Allah removed the punishment from them, but they returned to their disbelief, so Allah seized them on the day of Badr. And that is the saying of Allah Almighty: "The Day We will strike with the greatest assault; indeed, We will take retribution" [Surah al-Dukhan: 16]. He said: "The greatest assault refers to the day of Badr."

A hadith like this is also narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him).

Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man was narrating among the tribe of Kindah; he said: On the Day of Resurrection a smoke will come which will take away the hearing of the hypocrites. Then (the narrator) mentioned the full hadith.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Five things have already passed: the smoke, the (splitting of the) moon, al-Rum (the defeat of the Romans), the great assault (Badr), and al-Lizam (the inevitable punishment)."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "That is, he saw Jibril (peace be upon him) in a garment of rafraf which had filled all that is between the heaven and the earth."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "He saw a green rafraf which had covered the entire horizon."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "He saw a green rafraf which had covered the horizon of the sky."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "Green rafraf from Paradise which had covered the horizon."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Jibril (peace be upon him) in his true form; he had six hundred wings, and each one of them filled the space between the east and the west."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord" [Surah al-Najm: 18]: "He had six hundred wings."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "Near the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary" [Surah al-Najm: 14]: "It is the edge of Paradise; palaces of silk and brocade have been built near it."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A good dream is one part of seventy parts of prophethood; and the scorching wind from which the jinn were created is one part of seventy parts of the fire of Hell; and this fire of yours (in this world) is one part of seventy parts of the fire of Hell."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Marjan refers to red beads (coral)."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "O you who believe, do not take as allies a people with whom Allah is angry; they have despaired of the Hereafter" [Surah al-Mumtahanah: 13]: "That is, they will neither believe in it nor be rewarded. This is the disbeliever who dies and sees his recompense with his own eyes and becomes aware of it."

Al-Aswad bin Hilal (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked him about this verse: "And whoever is protected from the greed and stinginess of his own soul, it is they who are the successful" [Surah al-Hashr: 9], and he said: I am a man for whom it is not within my power that anything (of wealth) should leave me, and I fear that I have become the subject of this very verse. So Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You have mentioned miserliness, and miserliness is an evil thing; but what Allah mentioned in this verse is not what you understood. That is that you deliberately go for the wealth of someone else, or the wealth of your brother, and consume it."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "Husuman" [Surah al-Haqqah: 7]: "That is, consecutive."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "Its seal will be musk" [Surah al-Mutaffifin: 26]: "It is not a seal with which it is sealed; rather, its blend will be of musk. Have you not heard one of your women saying: Its blend is of such-and-such perfume?"

Abu Maysarah (Amr bin Shurahbil) (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) asked about "al-Khunnas al-Jawar al-Kunnas" (those that retreat, those that move, those that hide): "O Amr, what are they?" I said: Cattle. He said: "I too think so."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "And recite to them the story of the one to whom We gave Our signs" [Surah al-A'raf: 175]: "He is Bal'am, who is also called Bal'aam."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "You will surely pass from one state to another" [Surah al-Inshiqaq: 19]: "This refers to the sky."

Abu Amr al-Shaybani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I came to Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) with some runaway slaves from Yemen, and he said: "There is reward in this and also spoils." I said: As for the reward, we know it; what are the spoils? He said: "Forty dirhams for every person."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Before the Hour there will be harj." Abu al-Ahwas said: "Harj means killing and bloodshed."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The price for which Yusuf (peace be upon him) was bought was twenty dirhams. And when he sent for his family, at that time they were ninety-three (93) people in Egypt; their men were prophets and their women were siddiqat (truthful, righteous women). And by Allah, by the time they left (Egypt) with Musa (peace be upon him), their number had reached six hundred and seventy thousand."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "In Surah al-Nisa there are five verses which I would not exchange even for the world and everything in it, and I know that when the scholars pass by them they recognise them: 'If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your lesser misdeeds and admit you to a noble entrance' [Surah al-Nisa: 31]; and His saying: 'Indeed, Allah does not do injustice even the weight of an atom; and if it is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward' [Surah al-Nisa: 40]; and 'Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills' [Surah al-Nisa: 48]; 'And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful'; and 'Whoever does evil or wrongs himself and then seeks forgiveness of Allah will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful' [Surah al-Nisa: 110]."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "There are two verses in the Qur'an such that no servant commits a sin, then recites them and seeks forgiveness from Allah, except that he is forgiven." The people asked him about them, but he did not tell them. So Alqamah and al-Aswad said to one another: Come with us. The two of them went home, took the mushaf and began searching in Surah al-Baqarah, and said: We did not find them. Then they searched in Surah al-Nisa until they reached this verse: "And whoever does evil or wrongs himself and then seeks forgiveness of Allah will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful" [Surah al-Nisa: 110], and said: This is one. Then they searched in Surah Al Imran until they reached this verse: "And those who, when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins, and who forgives sins except Allah? And they do not persist in what they have done" [Surah Al Imran: 135]; both of them said: This is the other. Then they closed the mushaf, came to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: Are these the two verses? He said: "Yes."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A man remains in latitude in his religion as long as he does not become involved in unlawful blood; but when he sheds unlawful blood, modesty is stripped from him."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "Upon you is (the care of) your own selves" [Surah al-Ma'idah: 105]: "Its time has not yet come. As long as the call to good is accepted, keep saying it; then when it is rejected from you, then take care of your own selves; whoever goes astray, his straying will not harm you."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said, regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "On the day of the criterion, the day when the two armies met" [Surah al-Anfal: 41]: "The battle of Badr took place after the seventeenth of Ramadan had passed."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Seek Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree) when seventeen nights of Ramadan have passed, the morning of Badr, (the day about which He said:) 'The day of the criterion, the day when the two armies met' [Surah al-Anfal: 41]; and seek it also on the twenty-first and the twenty-third, for it only falls on an odd night."

Abd al-Rahman bin Yazid (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Recognise the hypocrites by three things: when they speak they lie, when they promise they break it, and when they make a covenant they betray it. And Allah has revealed confirmation of that in His Book: 'And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah: If He gives us from His bounty' [Surah al-Tawbah: 75] to the end of the verse."