18.
ABDULLAH IBN MAS‘ŪD (1)
Abdullah (‘Abd Allāh) ibn (son of) Mas‘ūd ((عبدالله بن مسعود r.a. (d. 32/650) was one
of the earlier companions (ṣaḥābah) of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., and an the
sixth person who converted to Islam. In his early life he used to tend the flocks
of one of the leaders of the Quraysh in Makkah called ‘Uqbah ibn Mu‘ayṭ (عقبة بن معيط) from
early in the morning till nightfall. The boy was used to be called “Ibn Umm
‘Abd” (إبن أم عبد “the son of the
mother of a slave”). He became qāḍī of Kūfah in about 642 CE.
One
day while tending the flocks, the young Abdullah was approached by two men
unknown to him. They were the Prophet s.a.w. and his companion Abū Bakr r.a.
who were apparently very thirsty and tired. They had come to the mountains
of Makkah to avoid the persecution of the Quraysh. They greeted him and asked
if he could milk one of the sheep to quench their thirst. He said that he could
not do that, because the sheep did not belong to him, and he was only
responsible for looking after them. They were pleased with his honesty. Then
they asked him if he had any young goat that did not have milk. He pointed at a goat, and they placed their hands on
its udders muttering some Qur’ānic verses. To his amazement the udders became
full of milk, and they drank and offered some to him. Then the udders shrank
back as before, and the goat was released. Soon after he knew that they were
the Prophet and his companion Abū Bakr who had come to him, he embraced Islam
and quitted tending flocks.
Abdullah’s
mother offered the Prophet her son to serve him which he agreed. Now, instead
of looking after the sheep, he got a better job, looking after the needs of the
Prophet s.a.w. inside as well as outside the house, and was closely
attached to him. He became a special servant of the Prophet, helping him put on his shoes, accompanied him on his journeys and
expeditions, woke him when he slept, provided
cover when he washed, and attended other personal needs, that the ṣaḥābah
called him ṣāḥib al-siwāk (“the bearer of the toothbrush”), ṣāḥib
al-na‘layn (“the bearer of the slippers”), ṣāḥib al-muṭahhirah (“the bearer of
the cleansing water”), and ṣāḥib al-wisīdah (“the bearer of the cushion”).
He was allowed to enter the Prophet’s house any time of the day or night, that
he was given more privileges than anyone else, and that some people thought the
he was one of the Prophet’s household. He was entitled “the Secretary” of the
Prophet as he was entrusted with his secrets.
Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd had thin legs and was
short that it was said that he was the same height of a tall man sitting. He
once climbed a tree in a campaign to cut wood. When some people
laughed at his legs the Prophet reproached them and said, “Are you laughing at
his thin legs? They will weigh heavier than Mount Uhud in the Scales of the
Hereafter.”
Abdullah ibn
Mas‘ūd was the first man to recite aloud the words of the Qur’ān before a
gathering of the Quraysh. The
eye-witness al-Zubayr related that one day that the Prophet's companions were
gathered with the Prophet s.a.w. They said, "By Allah, the Quraysh
have never heard the Qur’ān being recited to them before. Isn't there any man to
recite it so that they may hear it?" Thereupon Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd said,
"I shall recite it for them”
They
said, "We are afraid for you. We want a man with a clan to protect him
from those people if they want to harm him." He said, "Let me go, Allah
will protect me." Then he went to the Maqām Ibrahim (a landmark
situated a few meters from the Ka‘bah) at the Ka‘bah and recited:
الرَّحْمَنُ.عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ. خَلَقَ
الْإِنْسَانَ. عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَان. الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ
بِحُسْبَانٍ.
وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ (النجم:1-6)
The Most Beneficent! Has taught the Qur’ān.
He
created man. He taught him eloquent
speech. The
sun and the moon run on their fixed
courses (exactly)
calculated with measured out stages for each.
And the herbs (or stars ) and the trees
both prostrate (Q. 55: 1-6).
The
Quraysh looked at him and said, "What does Ibn Umm Abd say? He is reciting
some of what Muhammad came with." They went to him and began to beat him
in the face while he was reciting till he finished whatever Allah wished him to
recite from the surah. When he returned
to his friends with his wound, they told him, "This is what we were afraid
would happen to you." He answered them, "Those enemies of Allah have
never been more worthless to me than this moment, and if you wish I will go
back to them and do the same tomorrow." They said, "No, it is enough
for you. You have made them hear what they hated."
“The
Most Beneficent has taught the Qur’ān” means Allah taught the Prophet the Qur’ān,
and he in his turn taught it to his people. Allah made it easy to read and to remember
(al-Zajjāj”s interpretation).
“He
created man” means
Adam (according to Ibn ‘Abbās, Qatādah and al-Ḥasan); another interpretation is
human species.
“He
taught him eloquent speech” means: names of everything; all languages;
explanation of ḥalāl (legal) from ḥarām (illegal), of guidance
from straying; explanation of the past and the future; explanation of good and
bad (al-Ḍaḥḥāq’s interpretation); the explanation of what is beneficial and
harmful to man (the interpretation of Qatādah and al-Rabī‘). Other than eloquent
speech the term bayān also means “understanding” which is peculiar
to man, not to animals, and that Allah taught each people their languages
(al-Suddī’s interpretation). Muhammad Asad gives us more explanations about the
term bayān. He said:
The term al-bayān—denoting “the means whereby
a thing is [intellectually] circumscribed and made clearer” (Rāghib)—
applies to both thought in speech
inasmuch as it comprises the
faculty of making a thing or an idea apparent
to the mind and conceptually distinct from other things or ideas, as well as
the
power to express this cognition clearly in spoken or written
language (Tāj al-‘Arūs): hence in the above context,
“articulate thought and speech”,
recalling the “knowledge
of all the names” (i.e., the faculty of
conceptual
thinking) with which man is endowed …
(M. Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān, note. p.
824, n. 1)
“The
sun and the moon run on their fixed courses (exactly) calculated with measured out stages for each”
means without them time and ages cannot be calculated (according to Ibn Zayd
and Ibn Kaysān).
“And
the herbs (or stars) and the trees both prostrate.” The word النَّجْمُ is derived from the verb نَجَمَ الشَّيْءُ يَنْجُمُ نُجُوْمًا, something appeared
and emerged. The term “al-najm”
could be the herbs and their prostration and that of the trees is the
prostration of their shadows (al-Ḍaḥḥāq’s interpretation); in another view, herbs’
prostration is their facing the sun while it is rising, their leaning until
their shadows decrease (al-Farrā’’s interpretation); their prostration is the
turning of their shadows with them (al-Zajjāj’s interpretation). The term “al-najm”
could also be the stars according to al-Ḥasan and Mujāhid and their prostration
according to him is the rotation of their shadows. It is also said that the
prostration of the stars is their setting, and the prostration of the trees is
the harvesting of their fruit, as reported by al-Māwrdī. In general all of them
and the whole creature are subservient to Him.
The
term السُّجُودُ (”prostration”) means
الْخُضُوعُ ("submission, obedience”) as reported
by al-Qushayrī. According to al-Naḥḥās the original meaning of السُّجُودُ (”prostration”) in Arabic language is الِاسْتِسْلَامُ
وَالِانْقِيَادُ لِلَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ (“to surrender and to submit to Allah the Almighty”), and
everything surrenders to Him, including prostration in prayer.
One of many examples of the vast knowledge of
Ibn Mas‘ūd is as follow:
‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb
in one of his journeys leading a caravan he met another caravan from the
opposite direction where Ibn Mas‘ūd was happened to be in it. It was fairly dark and he could not be seen
properly. So he sent a messenger to find out the origin and the destination of
the caravan. They said that they came “from
فَجَ عَمِيْق (fajj amīq, deep and distant
mountain highway) , or from a far off destination.” The expression فَجَ
عَمِيْق (fajj amīq) was the Qur’ānic
expression from which the pilgrims came.[1] Their destination was " الْبَيْتُ
الْعَتِيْق (al-bayt al-‘atīq, the Ancient House, namely, the
Ka‘bah)." The expression الْعَتِيْق (al-bayt al-‘atīq, the Ancient
House was for the Ka‘bah to which the pilgrims intended to visit in their
pilgrimage.[2]
‘Umar r.a. realized that
there was a scholar among them. So, he told someone to ask the person:
"Which part of the Qur’ān is
the greatest?"
اللَّهُ
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا
نَوْمٌ... (البقرة:255)
Allah. There is no god except Him, the
Living, the Self-subsisting. Neither slumber overtakes Him nor sleep… (Q. 2:255)
he replied quoting
the Āyat al-Kursī (the verse of the Throne).
"Which part
of the Qur’ān carries its essence?”
إِنَّ اللَّهَ
يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى ... (النحل:90)
Verily Allah enjoins you to be just and
sacrifice for
others and help your kinsfolk.… (Q. 16:90)
was the answer.
“What
it the most comprehensive statement of the Qur’ān?”
فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ
خَيْرًا يَرَهُ . وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ (الزلزلة:7-8)
So
whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom,
shall see it and whosoever does evil equal to
the weight
of an atom shall see it (Q. 99:7-8)
was the answer.
"Which of the Qur’ānic verses
evokes fear?"
لَيْسَ بِأَمَانِيِّكُمْ وَلَا أَمَانِيِّ
أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا يُجْزَ بِهِ وَلَا
يَجِدْ لَهُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَلَا
نَصِيرًا (النساء:123)
It will not be
in accordance with your desire (Muslims),
nor those of the people of scripture
(Jews and Christians)
whosoever
works evil have the recompense thereof
and he will not find any protector or helper
besides Allah (Q. 4:123)
"Which part of the Qur’ān inspires
hope?”
قُلْ يَا
عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ
اللَّهِ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا
إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ (الزمر:53)
Say, O my servants who have wasted their
resources, do not
despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah
forgives all sins.
He is the Forgiving, the Compassionate. (Q. 39:53)
When ‘Umar asked whether Abdullah
ibn Mas‘ūd was among them, they replied, "Yes, indeed."
(CIVIC,
5 June, 2015)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ)
تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ)
Asad, Muhammad. The
Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984
http://www.inter-islam.org/Biographies/abdullahibnmasood.htm
http://sahabastories.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/abdullaah-ibn-masud-r-a.html
http://www.islamiska.org/e/masud.htm
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Sahaba/masud.html
(Scanned
from: "Companions of The Prophet", Vol.1, By: Abdul Wahid Hamid.) http://ahadith.co.uk/hadithbynarrator.php?n=Abdullah+bin+Masud&bid=1&let=A
http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/index/topicDetail/id/34
http://www.islamicvoice.com/december.2003/child.htm#abmj
[1] Allah said in the Qur’ān: وَأَذِّنْ فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا
وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ (الحج:27) And proclaim to
mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean
camel, hey will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway.(Q. 22:27)
[2] Allah said in the Qur’ān: ثُمَّ
لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا بِالْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ
(الحج:29) Then
let them complete their prescribed duties (manasik of Hajj) and perform their
vows, and circumambulate the Ancient House (the Ka‘bah) (Q. 22:29).
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