hadith 8564–9729

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Accustom yourselves to goodness, for goodness is attained only through habit."

Umayr narrates that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) freed a slave of his and said to him: "Listen! Your wealth is mine, but I have left it to you."

Amr bin Salamah narrates that he heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: "To equip (someone with) a whip in the path of Allah (for jihad) is dearer to me than performing a (voluntary) Hajj after the obligatory Hajj."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The millstone of Islam will turn at the head of the thirty-fifth year, then a tremendous event will occur. If their destruction lies in it, then that was bound to happen; otherwise they will be granted a respite for seventy years. Whoever lives to see that time will see things he dislikes."
Imam al-Tabarani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Abu al-Ahwas narrated it mawquf (as the saying of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) himself), whereas Masruq, Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah and al-Bara' bin Najiyah narrated it marfu' (as the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A man says a word with which he makes those sitting with him laugh, (although) he returns to his family having gained nothing from it, yet because of that word he falls further down than the distance from the heaven to the earth."

Al-Qasim narrates that a man asked his heirs for permission to bequeath more than one third, and they gave him permission; then, after he died, they went back on their permission. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this, and he said: "This going back (after granting permission) is a reprehensible act; it is not permissible."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about a man who makes a bequest and the heirs willingly give their permission, then (later) go back on it, and he said: "That is a reprehensible act; it is not permissible."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has not sent down any disease without sending down its remedy along with it. Hold fast to cow's milk, for the cow eats (grazing) from every kind of tree."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah has not sent down any disease without sending down a cure for it, except old age. Hold fast to cow's milk, for the cow eats from every kind of tree."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) did not recite qunut in any prayer except the witr, and he recited the qunut (in the witr) before the ruku' (bowing).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) did not recite qunut in the Fajr prayer, and when he recited qunut in the witr, he recited it before the ruku' (bowing).

Two companions of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrate that they used to bring their heads close to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) so that they could hear what he said in his prostration. One of them said: I heard him saying: "Glory be to You; there is no deity besides You." And the other said: I heard him saying: "Glory be to You; there is no lord besides You."

Kharijah narrates that he heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: "Whoever is two-tongued (double-faced) in this world will have two tongues of fire on the Day of Resurrection."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Hasten to the Friday prayers, for every Friday Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, appears to the people of Paradise upon a dune of camphor, and those people will be near (to Allah) in proportion to how they hastened to the Friday prayer. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will honour them in a way they had never seen before. Then they will return to their families and tell them of what new thing Allah has brought about for them." (The narrator) said: Then Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the mosque, and on that Friday he found two men there before him, so Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Two men, and I am the third. If Allah wills, He will bless the third."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whatever state of worldly life a Muslim man reaches the morning or the evening in, he is not held in contempt, provided there is no resentment (about it) in his heart."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "For one of you to bite on a live coal until it cools, or to hold on to it until it cools, is better than for him to say about a matter that Allah has decreed: If only it had not happened."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If I knew that only ten nights of my life remained, I would love that my wife not be separated from me during those nights."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "How can the one who raises his head before the imam feel safe from his head being turned into the head of a dog? And those people who raise their gazes towards the sky (in prayer) must certainly stop, or else their sight will be snatched away."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever among you raises his head in prayer before the imam, how can he feel safe from his head being turned into the head of a dog? And those people who raise their gazes (towards the sky) in prayer must certainly stop, or else their sight will not be returned to them."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When a man raises his head before the imam, how can he be safe from his head being turned into the head of a dog? Those people who raise their gazes towards the sky (in prayer) must certainly stop, or else their sight will not be returned to them."

Nufay', the freed slave of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), narrates: Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) was the one who wore the finest white clothing of all people, and he was the most fragrant of all people.

Abu Qays al-Awdi narrates: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) loved perfume very much.

Abu Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Abdullah (bin Mas'ud) (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the mosque on Friday wearing clean, beautiful white clothes. He saw a spacious place and sat down there, and he did not step over anyone. (The narrator) said: Then the imam came out, and two men were talking, so Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) picked up a pebble and threw it at them. They looked at him and fell silent. When the imam came down (from the minbar), Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Did you not know that you were in prayer?"

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) disliked that the judge of the Muslims and the one in charge of their spoils of war should take a salary (for that work).

Humayd bin Abdullah al-Thaqafi narrates that Alqamah bin Qays asked Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) for a loan of one thousand dirhams, and he lent it to him. When the stipend (from the treasury) was issued, he brought him one thousand dirhams and said: This is your money. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Bring it." So he took it, then said: "Had I not disliked going against you, I would have held back the money." Then Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We are more entitled to it." Then they sat talking for a while, and then Alqamah got up and left. When he reached the place of the coffin makers, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) sent someone after him and called him back, and asked: "Are you in need?" He said: Yes. He said: "Take the money." When he took it, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "To lend money twice is dearer to me than to give it in charity once."

Mujahid narrates that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a sacrificial animal (badanah) with a man. He asked: What shall I do with it? He said: "You and your companions eat one third, send one third to our Bedouin folk, and give one third in charity."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When one of you is in doubt in his prayer, let him estimate in his mind what is correct, then complete the prayer on that basis, then perform the two prostrations of forgetfulness (sajdah al-sahw) after the salam while sitting."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever is in doubt or uncertain in his prayer, let him estimate what is correct, then perform two prostrations (of forgetfulness)."

Malik narrates that he asked al-Sha'bi about the tashahhud, and he said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), after "Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah", used to say: "Peace be upon us also from our Lord."

Isa bin Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami narrates: I asked al-Hasan (al-Basri) about nabidh, and he said: I only drink from a vessel whose mouth is tied. At this his son said: Did Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) not use to drink at your place from a green earthenware jar? He said: Of course.

Yazid bin Mu'awiyah al-Amiri narrates that he heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: "What will be your state when you see people, or people come to you, whose faces are stained (smeared with colour)?"

Yazid bin Mu'awiyah narrates that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) went out to the market, and a man was saying: Some people are fighting in the market; I have never seen a misleading fitnah like that of today. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "This is not the misleading fitnah; rather, this is a horn of Satan."

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

Hubayrah bin Yarim narrates that he heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: "Among the last of the people of Paradise to enter it will be a man by whom Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will pass and say to him: Get up and enter Paradise. He will turn to Him frowning and say: Have You left anything for me? Allah will say: Yes, for you is as much (of the world) as the sun rises and sets upon."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed Fajr in one of the mosques of Banu Asad, and their imam led them in prayer reciting the two longest surahs of the Mufassal according to the arrangement of Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him). When the prayer was completed, Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What is this, that I see you a young man, and you recite these two surahs in this prayer, while you are a young man?"

Ibrahim (al-Nakha'i) narrates that a man came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) wearing perfume (hanut). When he saw him and noticed the scent of the perfume, he said: "O Allah, I seek refuge with You from his evil." Then the man came to him and told him that he had committed fornication with his wife's slave-girl, (so) "establish the prescribed punishment (hadd) upon me." Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Seek Allah's forgiveness and repent to Him, and keep your own fault concealed; and if you are able to free her, then free her."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) would say the takbir when he finished the recitation, then when he finished the qunut he would say the takbir and bow (ruku').

Alqamah narrates that a man asked Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) about the time of Zuhr. He said: "When a man's shadow draws in beneath his feet, and this time lasts until the shadow of everything becomes equal to it." He asked him about the time of Asr, and he said: "Pray it while the sun is still white and bright." And he asked about the time of Maghrib, and he said: "When the sun has set."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I warm myself with her in winter and cool myself with her in summer."

Ibn Jurayj narrates: I was told that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) would warm himself with his wife in winter while he was in a state of major ritual impurity (junub) and she had already taken the ritual bath (ghusl), and he would cool himself with her in summer, while the two of them were in that same state.