Musnad of Abdullah bin Mas'ud

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Beware! Those who split hairs and go to extremes are ruined." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said these words three times.

Alqamah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: We were with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and Ziyad bin Hudayr (may Allah have mercy on him) was also with us, when Sayyiduna Khabbab (may Allah be pleased with him) came to us and asked: "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, do all these people recite the way you recite?" He said: "If you wish, I will order one of them to recite to you." So he said to me: "Recite." Then Ziyad bin Hudayr (may Allah have mercy on him) said to him: "Are you ordering him to recite when he is not the best reciter among us?" Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If you wish, I will tell you what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said about your people and his people." Then I recited fifty verses of Surah Maryam to him, and Sayyiduna Khabbab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Enough, that is sufficient for you."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The mill of Islam will turn at the start of thirty-five, thirty-six or thirty-seven years. If they perish (falling victim to trials), their end will be that of those who perished before them; and if they remain safe, their religion will remain established for them for a further seventy years."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that one night we were travelling with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), if only we could halt on the ground and sleep while our mounts also grazed?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then who will guard us?" He said: I said: "I will." He said: Then my eyes were overcome by sleep, and nothing woke us until the sun had risen, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) too woke only at the sound of our talking. He said: Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), and he gave the call to prayer; then he (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and led us in prayer.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Beware! Indeed, the closest of people to me on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who sends the most blessings (salawat) upon me."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Paradise has eight gates: seven of them are closed, and one gate is open for repentance until the sun rises from its direction (i.e. the west)."

Abu Mijlaz (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that the companions of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) were struck by severe cold, and they became shy of coming (to him) in huts and woollen cloaks. When he found them absent, he was told that this was their situation. So Sayyiduna Abu Abd al-Rahman (Abdullah bin Mas'ud) (may Allah be pleased with him) himself came out in the morning in a woollen cloak ('aba'ah), and the people said: "Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) too has put on an 'aba'ah." Then he came in the same state on the second and the third day as well. When those people saw him in the 'aba'ah, they all came together in their simple cloaks and blankets. Then he recognised the faces that he had been missing, and on this occasion he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "No one in whose heart there is even a mustard seed's weight of pride will enter Paradise," or he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "an atom's weight of pride."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that when evening came, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite this du'a: 'Amsayna wa amsa al-mulku lillah, wal-hamdu lillah, la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah. Allahumma inni as'aluka min khayri hadhihi al-laylah wa khayri ma fiha, wa a'udhu bika min sharriha wa sharri ma fiha. Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min al-kasali wal-harami wa su'i al-kibari wa fitnati al-dunya wa 'adhabi al-qabr' (We have reached the evening, and in the evening the whole dominion belongs to Allah alone, and all praise is for Allah. There is no god worthy of worship except Allah, alone, with no partner. O Allah, I ask You for the good of this night and the good that is in it, and I seek refuge in You from the evil of this night and the evil that is in it. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from laziness, decrepitude (extreme old age), the disgrace of old age, the trial of this world and the punishment of the grave).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that: "Two men used to worship Allah Almighty, and they both begged Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to give them death together. So they both died together and were buried." Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Had I been there, I would have shown you their graves by the features and signs that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) described to us."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "For thirty cows, (the zakah is) one tabi' (a one-year-old male calf) or tabi'ah (a one-year-old female calf), and for forty cows one musinnah (a two-year-old cow) is due."

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) was praying, and when he (peace and blessings be upon him) prostrated, Sayyiduna Hasan and Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them both) leapt onto his blessed back. When the people wanted to stop them, he (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured to them: "Leave them both." Then, when he (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he seated them both in his lap and said: "Whoever loves me should love these two as well."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said concerning the verse "The heart did not deny what it saw": "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Jibril (peace be upon him) in two garments (hullahs) of rafraf, and he had filled the space between the heaven and the earth."

Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him): "Recite (the Qur'an) to me." He said: Shall I recite to you, when the Qur'an was revealed to you? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, I love to hear it from someone other than myself." So he began reciting from the beginning of Surah al-Nisa until, when he reached this verse: "How then will it be when We bring from every nation a witness, and We bring you (O beloved) as a witness over all these?" tears flowed from his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed eyes. This report is mursal, because it is not established that Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) heard directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

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: "I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them," or he (peace and blessings be upon him) said these words: "as long as I was present among them." The narrator Mis'ar (may Allah have mercy on him) was in doubt about which of these words were said.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to make this du'a: 'Rabbi qini 'adhabaka yawma tab'athu 'ibadak' (My Lord, save me from Your punishment on the Day You raise Your servants back to life).

Mis'ar (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that Ma'n bin Abd al-Rahman (may Allah have mercy on him) brought out a document before me and swore that it was his father's handwriting, and in it was written that Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By the One besides whom there is no god worthy of worship! I have not seen anyone more severe towards those who go to extremes and split hairs than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and after him (peace and blessings be upon him) I have not found anyone more severe towards them than Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and I think that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was the most fearful of all the people of the earth about them (or on account of their trial)."

Abu al-Ahwas (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I have seen us all (the Companions) in such a state that no one stayed behind from the (congregational) prayer except a person whose hypocrisy had become evident to all, or someone who was truly sick; even a sick man would be brought walking between two men, leaning on them, so that he could join the prayer." And Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) also said: "Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us the ways of guidance, and among these ways of guidance is offering the (congregational) prayer in the mosque in which the call to prayer is given."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): "We were in the company of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), about thirty men, among whom there was no one but men of Quraysh. By Allah, I had never seen a more beautiful sight than the radiance of those people's faces that day. The narrator said: They brought up the mention of women and began talking about them, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also talked with them on this subject, until (out of intense modesty) I wished that he (peace and blessings be upon him) would now fall silent. Then I came close to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the testimony of faith (tashahhud) and said: 'To proceed: O people of Quraysh, you will remain the rightful holders of this matter (the caliphate and authority) as long as you obey Allah; but when you disobey Him, Allah will set over you people who will peel you (stripping you of honour and power) just as this stick is peeled.' At that time there was a stick in his (peace and blessings be upon him) blessed hand. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) peeled the stick, and it became completely white and shining."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever keeps a dog that is not for guarding livestock or for hunting, two qirats are deducted from his reward every day."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had a donkey that was called 'Ufayr'."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Labbayk Allahumma labbayk, labbayk la sharika laka labbayk, inna al-hamda wal-ni'mata lak' (Here I am, O Allah, here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Indeed, all praise and blessing are Yours).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Learn the Qur'an, acquire knowledge and teach it to people, and learn the fara'id (the science of inheritance) and teach them to people; for I am a man who will (soon) be taken (from this world), and knowledge too will soon be taken away, until two men will differ over some ruling of inheritance and will not find anyone (knowledgeable) who can tell them (the Shari'ah ruling about it)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed qunut (in the prayer) for a month, in which he (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated against the tribes of Usayyah and Dhakwan; then, when he (peace and blessings be upon him) prevailed over them, he (peace and blessings be upon him) abandoned the qunut."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever lends a Muslim one dirham twice will receive a reward equal to giving the amount of both loans in charity once."

Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: We were present in the gathering of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) after the Maghrib prayer, and he was teaching us the Noble Qur'an. Meanwhile a man asked him: "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, did you ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) how many caliphs this Ummah would have?" Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Since I came to Iraq, no one before you has asked me about this." Then he said: "Yes! I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about it, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'There will be twelve caliphs, like the number of the chieftains (nuqaba') of the Children of Israel.'"

Abu Wa'il (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: We were sitting waiting for Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) to come out to us, when Yazid bin Mu'awiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) came to us, and we said to him: "Sit down with us." He replied: "I will go in to your companion; if he comes out, well and good, otherwise I will come back to you." The narrator said: Then he went in to him, and then the two of them came out together. Then Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I am informed of your gathering, or of your being here, and nothing prevents me from coming out to you except my dislike of wearying you. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to choose particular days for exhortation and admonition for us, out of concern that we would grow weary."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The Muhajirun, the Ansar, the Tulaqa' of Quraysh (those granted general amnesty at the Conquest of Makkah) and the 'Utaqa' (freed slaves) of the tribe of Thaqif are friends and helpers of one another in this world and the Hereafter."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he was asked: "Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) deliver the sermon standing?" He replied: "Yes." Then he recited (in support of his position) this verse of the Noble Qur'an: "And they left you standing (while delivering the sermon)."

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: "When a man among the Children of Israel saw his brother committing a sin, he would forbid him by way of rebuke (merely as a formality), but the very next day what he had seen of him would not stop him from becoming his companion in eating, sitting and drinking. So when Allah Almighty saw this conduct of theirs, He made their hearts like one another, and cursed them on the tongue of His prophets, Sayyiduna Dawud and Sayyiduna Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon them both): 'That was because they disobeyed and used to transgress.'" Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said (emphatically): "By the One in whose hand is my soul! You will surely enjoin good, forbid evil, seize the hand of the wrongdoer and compel him with full force to turn to the truth, or else Allah Almighty will make your hearts like one another as well and will curse you just as He cursed them."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I was brought the Buraq, and I rode it behind Jibril (peace be upon him), and it set off with us. Its pace was such that when it climbed a mountain its hind legs rose, and when it descended its forelegs rose. Then it took us through a dark and foul-smelling land, after which we reached a very vast and fragrant land. I asked: 'O Jibril, we passed through a very dark and foul-smelling land and now we have come to this spacious and pure land (what is this)?' He said: 'That was the land of Hell, and this is the land of Paradise.' Then we came to a man who was standing in prayer. He asked: 'O Jibril, who is this with you?' Jibril (peace be upon him) replied: 'This is your brother Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).' So he welcomed me, prayed for blessing for me and said: 'Ask for ease for your Ummah.' I asked: 'O Jibril, who is this?' He said: 'This is your brother Isa (peace be upon him).' Then he took us on, and we came to another man, who asked: 'O Jibril, who is with you?' He replied: 'This is your brother Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).' He welcomed me, prayed for blessing for me and said: 'Ask for ease for your Ummah.' I asked: 'O Jibril, who is this?' He said: 'This is your brother Musa (peace be upon him).' Then we went on and saw some lamps and light. I asked: 'O Jibril, what is this?' He said: 'This is the tree of your father (forefather) Ibrahim (peace be upon him). Would you like to go near it?' I said: 'Yes.' So we went near them, and he welcomed me and prayed for good and blessing for me. Then we went on until we reached Bayt al-Maqdis, and there all the prophets were gathered for me, those whom Allah has named and those whom He has not named, and I led them all in prayer, except these three: Musa, Isa and Ibrahim (peace be upon them)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that: "A man from the People of the Suffah died, and the people found two dinars in his sheet. When this was mentioned before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'These are two brands (of the fire of Hell).'"

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): We asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the pace of walking with a bier, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Adopt a pace somewhat less than a fast trot (khabab); for if he (the deceased) is righteous, you are hastening him towards good, and if he is otherwise (wicked), then remoteness is the lot of the people of the Fire. The bier is what is followed; it does not follow anyone, and whoever walks ahead of the bier is not of (those accompanying) it."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "I prayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him), and they did not raise their hands except at the beginning of the prayer (not during the prayer)." The narrator of the hadith, Muhammad bin Jabir (may Allah have mercy on him), also related these words: "So they did not raise their hands after the first takbir."

Alqamah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Shall I not lead you in the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?" Alqamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Then he led them in prayer and did not raise his hands except once (at the beginning).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "I was praying and had placed my left hand over my right hand, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to me, took my right hand and placed it over my left hand."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Usury (riba), even though it outwardly appears to bring increase and abundance (in wealth), in its outcome results only in decrease and scarcity."

Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed qunut for a month and supplicated against the tribe of Usayyah of Banu Sulaym, who had disobeyed Allah and His Messenger; then after that he did not perform qunut."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the polytheists kept the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from performing the Asr prayer until the sun turned yellow, or, as the narrator doubted, turned red. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They kept us occupied from the middle prayer." Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated against them in these words: "They kept us from the middle prayer; may Allah Almighty fill their bellies and their graves with fire, or may Allah fill their stomachs and their graves with fire."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he recited something into the ear of an afflicted (sick) person, and he recovered. At this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: "What did you recite into his ear?" He replied: I recited from "Did you then think that We created you without purpose" to the end of the surah. At this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If a man of complete certainty were to recite these verses over a mountain, it would certainly move from its place."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) "performed ablution (wudu) with nabidh."