hadith 8564–9729

When Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was appointed caliph, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) set out from Madinah for Kufah. He praised and extolled Allah, then said: "To proceed: The Commander of the Believers, Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), has died, and we have never seen a day with more sobbing than that day. We, the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), gathered and spared no effort in choosing the best and most upright of us, and we pledged allegiance to him. So you too pledge allegiance to the Commander of the Believers, Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him)."

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

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It would never please me to have shot an arrow at Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) that missed him (the narrator said: I think he said: 'intending to kill him') even if I were to receive in return gold equal to Mount Uhud."

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

Abdullah bin Sinan narrates: Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) came to announce the death of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and the caliphate of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, we spared no effort in choosing the most excellent and best of us."

Abdullah bin Sinan said: When Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) gave the pledge of allegiance to Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: "We did not fall short in choosing the most excellent and best among us."

Al-Nazzal bin Sabrah said: When Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was made Caliph, Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We appointed as leader the best of those who remained, and we did not fall short in it."

When Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was made Caliph, Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We appointed as leader the best of those who remained, and we did not fall short in it."

Al-Walid bin Qays said that Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) ascended the pulpit, intending to announce the death of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and he was overcome by tears once or twice. Then he said: "Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was a strong fortress for Islam; whoever entered it would enter and not leave it, and now that fortress has collapsed." Then he announced his death, and then said: "And Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) has been made Caliph, and we did not fall short in choosing the best person."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Hold fast to acquiring knowledge before it is taken away, and its being taken away is the passing of the people of knowledge. Hold fast to knowledge, for none of you knows when people will come to need the knowledge he has. Hold fast to knowledge, and beware of affectation and delving too deep, and hold fast to the old way, for soon there will come people who recite the Book of Allah but cast it behind their backs."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O people, learn knowledge, for none of you knows when people will come to need his (knowledge)." Then a man came to him and said: "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, what do you say about a man who recites the Qur'an backwards?" He said: "That is one whose heart is turned upside down." Then a copy of the Qur'an (mushaf) was brought to him which had been decorated and adorned with gold, and Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The best thing with which a mushaf can be adorned is its recitation in accordance with the truth."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to make this supplication: "O Allah, if You have written me among the wretched, then erase me, and establish me among the fortunate."

Qatadah said that Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) would sometimes cite as an example a line from the poetry composed about the battles of the Arabs.

Al-Harith bin Suwayd said: I heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) say: "There is no word which I could say to a person in authority that would ward off two lashes of the whip from me, except that I would say it."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A man narrates something, and it is heard by someone whose intellect does not reach the understanding of that matter, so it becomes a trial (fitnah) for him."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: There were two towns, one righteous and the other wrongdoing (sinful). A man set out from the wrongdoing town intending to go to the righteous town, and death came to him wherever Allah willed. Then an angel and Satan disputed about him. Satan said: "By Allah, he never once disobeyed me." The angel said: "He set out intending to repent." Then it was decided between them that it should be seen which of the two towns he was nearer to, and he was found to be nearer to the righteous town by a hand-span, so he was forgiven. Ma'mar said: I heard someone say: "Allah brought the righteous town nearer to him."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The one who declares the lawful to be unlawful is like the one who declares the unlawful to be lawful."

Abu Ishaq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I was sitting with Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah (bin Mas'ud) (may Allah have mercy on him), when a man came to him and asked him about his son al-Qasim. He said: "He went early in the morning to al-Kunasah (the refuse-dumping ground) looking for dabb (lizards)." The man said: "Do you eat it?" Abd al-Rahman said: "And who has made it unlawful? I heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) say: 'The one who declares the lawful to be unlawful is like the one who declares the unlawful to be lawful.'"

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I would not leave behind me anything more beloved to me than a camel which I dedicate to providing water."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will question everyone whom He made responsible for a flock (of people) about those in his charge: did he establish the command of Allah among them, or did he neglect it? So much so that a man will even be questioned about the members of his household."

Al-Qasim bin Abd al-Rahman said: A complaint was made to Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) about the Euphrates (river). People said: "We fear that it will burst over us; if only you would send someone to it who would build an embankment for it." Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We will not build an embankment for it. By Allah, a time will come upon people when, if they were to search for even a basin of water, they would not find it. Every water will return to its original source, and the water will be where the Muslims are, in al-Sham."

Al-Qasim said: In the time of Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) the Euphrates (river) flooded, and the people disliked it. Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Do not dislike it, for soon a time will come upon people when a basin of water will be sought and will not be found; that will be when every water returns to its original source, and the remaining water will be where the believers are, in al-Sham."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When it is the thirty-fifth year, a tremendous matter will occur. If they perish, that would not be unlikely, and if they are saved, then there is hope. And when it is the seventieth year, you will see things that you will find objectionable."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is as if I can see the Turks, who have come to you riding small horses (barathin) with their ears tied, until they tie them up on the bank of the Euphrates."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is part of faith that a man loves his brother, and loves him only for Allah and for the sake of Allah."

Ziyad bin Abi Maryam, or Abu Ubaydah (the narrator Ma'mar was in doubt), said: Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) saw some beads on the neck of his wife which she had hung as protection against al-humrah (erysipelas), so he cut them off and said: "The family of Abdullah has no need of shirk."

Abu Ubaydah said: Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) went in to one of his umm walads (slave women who had borne him children) and saw an amulet on her neck, so he twisted the strap until he broke it, and said: "Is there shirk in my houses?" Then he said: "Amulets, incantations and tiwalah (love charms) are shirk, or a kind of shirk."

Abu Ubaydah narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he saw on the neck of a woman of his household a strap with amulets, so he pulled it hard until he broke it, and said: "The family of Abdullah has no need of shirk." Then he said: "Indeed, tiwalah (love charms), amulets and incantations are shirk." At this a woman said: "One of us has a pain in her head, so she has an incantation recited over her, and when she has had it recited, she feels that it has benefited her." Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Satan comes to one of you and pricks at her head; then when she has an incantation recited, he withdraws, and if she does not have it recited, he keeps on jabbing. So if one of you women were to call for water and sprinkle it on her head and face, then say: 'Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful),' then recite: Qul huwa Allahu ahad, Qul a'udhu bi-rabbil-falaq, and Qul a'udhu bi-rabbin-nas, that would benefit her, if Allah wills."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "For a woman among the wide-eyed houris, the marrow of her shin will be seen from behind the flesh and the bone, and from beneath seventy garments, just as red wine is seen in white glass."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Sudden death is a relief for the believer, and a cause of regret and sorrow for the disbeliever."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The soul of the believer comes out easily like oozing sweat, and the soul of the disbeliever comes out from the side of his mouth just as the breath of a donkey comes out."

Qatadah said: When Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) intended to enter a town, he would recite this supplication: "O Allah, Lord of the heavens and whatever they shade, Lord of the devils and whomever they lead astray, and Lord of the winds and whatever they scatter, I ask You for the good of this town and the good of what is in it, and I seek refuge in You from its evil and the evil of what is in it."

Shaqiq said: Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to fast little. When this was mentioned to him, he said: "When I fast, I become too weak to recite the Qur'an, and the recitation of the Qur'an is more beloved to me."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) rarely fasted. He would say: "When I fast, I become too weak to pray, and prayer is more beloved to me than fasting." If he did fast, he would fast three days of the month.

Abd al-Rahman bin Yazid said: Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to fast little. We said to him: "You fast little." He said: "When I fast, I become too weak to pray, and prayer is more beloved to me than fasting."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Prayer is more beloved to me than fasting." And he did not pray the forenoon (duha) prayer.

It was said to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): "You fast little." He said: "Yes. When I fast, I become too weak to pray, and prayer is more beloved to me than fasting."

A man of the Bajilah tribe said: I heard al-Sha'bi say: "Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) did not pray the forenoon (duha) prayer; he would offer voluntary prayers between Zuhr and Asr, and along with that he would also pray during a long portion of the night."

The mother of Abu Ubaydah said: I never saw Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) fast two days apart from Ramadan. The narrator said: I do not know what the matter with those two days was.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) rarely fasted. He would say: "When I fast, I become too weak to pray, and prayer is more beloved to me than fasting." And if he did fast, he would fast three days of the month.