Conversion to Islam
Ibn Masʿūd was an early follower ofEmigration to Medina
When the MuslimsRelationship with Muhammad
Outsiders perceived Abdullah and his mother as members of Muhammad's household. He worked as a personal servant, taking care of Muhammad's bedding, toothbrush, sandals and traveling hygiene. "He used to screen him when he bathed and wake him when he slept and walk with him in a wild land." He was said to be the "keeper of secrets". Muhammad once told him to climb a tree and bring him a twig. The companions laughed at how thin Abdullah's legs were. Muhammad said: "Why are you laughing? Abdullah's foot will be heavier than Mount Uhud in the scales on the Day of Resurrection." Muhammad recognized Abdullah as one of the four foremost experts on the Qur'an. He once asked him to recite; when Abdullah protested, "Should I recite it to you when you are the one to whom it was sent down and revealed?" Muhammad replied, "I love to hear it from someone else." Abdullah then recited it until Muhammad wept.Military career
Abdullah fought at theCaliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar
After the death of Muhammad, Abdullah ibn Masud became the eighth-most prominent transmitter of ''I asked Allah's Messenger which deed was the best. He replied: "Prayer at its appointed hour." I said: "Then what?" He replied: "Kindness to the parents." I said: "Then what?" He replied: "''Jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...'' in the cause of Allah." And I would not have ceased asking more questions but out of regard.
A man said: "Allah's Messenger, which offense is the most grievous in Allah's eye?" He replied: "That you associate a partner with Allah, who created you." He said: "What next?" He replied: "That you kill your child out of fear that he would join you in food." He said: "What next?" He replied: "That you commit adultery with your neighbor's wife." And the Almighty and Exalted Lord testified it: ''All those who call not unto another god along with Allah, and slay not any soul which Allah has forbidden, except in the cause of justice, nor commit fornication, and he who does this shall meet a requital of sin.''Qur'an 25"> Qur'an 25:68">Qur'an_25.html" ;"title="Qur'an 25">Qur'an 25:68/blockquote>We were along with Allah's Messenger at Mina, that Splitting of the moon">moon was split up into two. One of its parts was behind the mountain and the other one was on this side of the mountain. Allah's Messenger said to us: "Bear witness to this."Umar allotted Abdullah a pension of 6,000 ''dirhams'', and he was said to be very generous with his money. His mother was also granted a pension of 1,000 ''dirhams''. Around 642 Umar appointed him as a preacher, treasurer and magistrate (qāḍī) in Kufa,Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. ''Tarikh wa’l-Rusul wa’l-Muluk''. Translated by Smith, G. R. (1994). ''Volume 14: The Conquest of Iran''. Albany: State University of New York Press. saying: "I have preferred you with him over myself, so take him."
Shia View
Conflict with the Government
Abdullah, in his capacity as treasurer, lent a sum of money toSaad ibn Abi Waqqas , image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png , alt = , caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia , death_place ..., the Governor of Kufa, and when he was unable to repay it, they quarreled. Their quarrel spread to their individual supporters until they became two "wrangling factions" in the city. Uthman became angry with both of them; in 646 he recalled Saad, extracted the money from him, and replaced him withal-Walid ibn Uqba Al-Walīd ibn ʿUqba ibn Abī Muʿayṭ ( ar, الْوَلِيْد ابْنِ عُقبَة ابْنِ أَبِيّ مُعَيْط, died 680) was the governor of Kufa in 645/46–649/50 during the reign of his half-brother, Caliph Uthman (). Durin .... He thought of replacing Abdullah too, but in the end he decided against it. By 650, Abdullah had quarreled with al-Walid. A petition was brought to Abdullah to investigate rumors that Al-Walid was drinking alcohol; Abdullah responded that it was not his business to spy on another man's privacy. Al-Walid felt that this statement was tantamount to a suspicion of his guilt. He accused Abdullah of not defending his reputation, and they insulted one another verbally. Al-Walid also tried to misappropriate state finances, but Abdullah refused to comply with his demands. When Uthman instructed Abdullah to obey al-Walid in everything, Abdullah resigned his post. However, he remained in Kufa and continued to criticise the Governor.Abbott, N. (1942). ''Aishah the Beloved of Mohammed''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Another long-serving Muslim,Abu Dharr al-Ghifari Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari Al-Kinani (, '), also spelled Abu Tharr or Abu Zar, born Jundab ibn Junādah (), was the fourth or fifth person converting to Islam, and from the Muhajirun. He belonged to the Banu Ghifar, the Kinanah tribe. No date of birt ..., was also living in Kufa. He lived in the desert of Al-Rabadha. Sometime later, Abdullah ibn Masud went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. As he passed through Al-Rabadha, his camels almost trod upon a funeral bier. A slave told him that it was the funeral of his master Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, who had died alone. Abdullah burst into tears, exclaiming: "The apostle was right! You walked alone, you died alone and you will be raised alone!" Then he alighted from his camels and helped to bury his old friend.
Uthman's Compilation of Qur'an
Uthman produced a standardized version of the Qur'an in 652. He sent a copy to each province, and ordered that all other Quranic materials "whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies," must be burned. It is said that Ibn Mas’ud was displeased by the finished product; in particular: * That he accused Uthman's scribes of adding three extra ''suras'' ( 1,113 113 may refer to: *113 (number), a natural number *AD 113, a year * 113 BC, a year *113 (band), a French hip hop group * 113 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route * 113 (New Jersey bus), Ironbound Garage in Newark and run ...and 114) that had never been part of the original, and of making many other small changes to the text.Gilchrist, J. (1989). ''Jam' al-Qur'an: The Codification of the Qur'an Text'', pp 67ff. Mondeor, R.S.A.: M.E.R.C.S.A. * That he preached a sermon in Kufa in which he called Uthman's standardized Quran a "deceit". "And whoever deceives like this will bring his deceit on theDay of Resurrection In Islam, "the promise and threat" () of Judgment Day ( ar, یوم القيامة, Yawm al-qiyāmah, Day of Resurrection or ar, یوم الدین, italic=no, Yawm ad-din, Day of Judgement), when "all bodies will be resurrected" from the dead, ...… I like it better to read according to the recitation of him whom I love than that of Zayd ibn Thabit … If I knew anyone to be more conversant with Allah's Book than I am, I would surely go to him if camels could carry me there." When Uthman's agents came to Kufa to burn all the variants, Abdullah hid his copy from them. He justified his own version of the recitation by reminding people: "I recited before Allah's Messenger more than seventy ''suras'' of the Qur'an. His Companions know that I have a better understanding of Allah's Book than they do; and if I were to know that someone had a better understanding than I have, I would have gone to him." It was said that nobody could find fault with Abdullah's version. When Uthman was called to account for his mismanagement as Caliph, one of the grievances against him was that he had destroyed variant readings of the Qur'an. Much later, Abdullah ibn Masud's variant readings were discussed on equal terms with the Uthmanic text by al-Farra (d. 207/822). However, the vast majority of Muslim scholars never accepted these reports due to their weakness, as well as many strong reports indicating the exact opposite to be true. The Qur'an says in 15:87 "We have given thee seven of the oft-repeated (verses) and the great Qur'an." The seven often-repeated verses refer to ''al-Fatihah'', the first ''sura'' of the Qur'an, which Abdullah ibn Masud is alleged to have denied. However, quoting Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn adh-Dhurays, Ibn al-Munzar and Ibn Mardwiyah, as-Suyuti narrated the following:It is narrated from Abdullah Ibn Masud, regarding the word of Allah, "We have given you the seven oft-repeated verses;" he said, " t is''Fatihatu al-Kitab''."In another narration, Abdullah ibn Masud was asked why he did not write ''al-Fatihah'' in his '' mushaf''. He replied, "If I were to write it, I would write it before every ''sura''." Abu Bakr al-Anbari explains this saying every ''raka’a'' (in prayers) starts with ''al-Fatiha'' and then another ''sura'' is recited. It is as if Ibn Masud said, "I have dropped it for the sake of brevity and I have trusted its preservation by Muslims (collectively)." There are also narrations from Abdullah where he explicitly refers to ''suras'' 113 and 114 as surahs, for example: "Excessively recite two surahs. Allah will make you reach higher ranks in the Hereafter because of them. They are al-Mu'awwidhatayn (i.e. al-Falaq and an-Nas/nos. 113 & 114)…" Four '' qira'at'' of the Qur'an (Qira'at of Hamzah, 'Aasim, Khalaf, Al-Kisa'i) have chains of transmission ('' isnad'') going through Abdullah ibn Masud, and they all include the above three ''suras''. These are ''mutawatir Hadith terminology ( ar, مصطلح الحديث, muṣṭalaḥu l-ḥadīth) is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (''hadith'') attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad by other early Islamic f ...'' chains and thus Islamic scholars give precedence to them, disregarding much weaker chains that go against it as inauthentic. For these reasons, Islamic scholars rejected the notion of Abdullah ibn Masud rejecting ''suras''.An-Nawawi Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī ( ar, أبو زكريا يحيى بن شرف النووي; (631A.H-676A.H) (October 1230–21 December 1277), popularly known as al-Nawawī or Imam Nawawī, was a Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and h ...says: "The Muslims have all agreed that al-Mu'awwidhatayn and al-Fatihah are part of the Qur'an and whoever denies this becomes a disbeliever and whatever is quoted from Ibn Masud in this regard is not true." Ibn Hazm also rejected the notion of Ibn Masud denying these ''suras'', along with the vast majority of Islamic scholars.
Conflict with Uthman
Uthman eventually recalled Abdullah to Medina. He walked into the mosque, where Uthman was speaking, but the Caliph broke off his speech to insult Abdullah.Aisha Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al-mu'min, muʾminīn), ...then interrupted with protests against this manner of speech "to a companion of Allah's Messenger". Uthman forbade Abdullah ever to leave Medina again and ordered him out of the mosque. His servants removed Abdullah so violently that they broke two of his ribs and, amid loud protests from Aisha, he had to be carried home. Uthman did not pay Abdullah's pension for the rest of his life.
Reading of the Qur'an in Kufa
Ibn Masʿūd read one of the most well documented "companion" readings of the Qur'an, which he taught in Kufa. The non-canonical Kufan reciter Sulaiman al-Aʽmash (d. 147 / 765), who continued the Ibn Masʿūd tradition in parts of his own reading, narrated that "I came to Kufa and the qirāʾa of Zayd was not amongst them, except as the reading ofʿAbd Allāh is amongst you today: no one recited it save one or two men". Ramon Harvey asserts that Ibn Masʿūd's reading continued in use and was even taught as the dominant reading in Kufa for at least a century after his death and has shown that some of his distinctive readings continued to play a role in Hanafi fiqh. Ibn Masʿūd's reading played a greater or lesser role in each of the canonical Kufan readings. Professor Shady Nasser notes that the isnad of ʿĀṣim back to the Prophet passes through two main branches. One of these goes through Ibn Masʿūd via Zirr b. Hubaysh. The influence of Ibn Masʿūd is greater in the canonical readings ofHamza Hamza ( ar, همزة ') () is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the glottal stop . Hamza is not one of the 28 "full" letters and owes its existence to historical inconsistencies in the standard writing system. It is derived from ...and his student Al-Kisa'i. Hamza learned his reading primarily from his fellow Kufans Ibn Abī Laylā, and Al-A'mash, insofar as the latter's was compatible with the Uthmanic rasm. Al-A'mash derived much of his reading from that of Ibn Masʿūd. From numerous sources Arthur Jeffery compiled the hundreds of differences in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud (as well as other companions) compared to the textus receptus, namely the Cairo edition, which is based on the reading ofHafs Abū Amr Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Abi Dawud al-Asadī al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو عمرو حفص بن سليمان بن المغيرة الأسدي الكوفي), better known as Hafs (706–796 CE; 90–180 AH according to the Is ...from 'Asim. Many of these differences were reported by Al-A'mash and appear in Ibn Abi Dawud's ''Kitab al Masahif''. Data is also available showing the extent to which Ibn Masʿūd's reading occurs in the Kufan canonical readings in terms of distinctive dotting of consonants. Codex Mashhad is an early Qur'an manuscript which has been identified as originally using the surah order reported by early sources from the codex of Ibn Masʿūd, though with a standard Uthmanic rasm text. Its surahs were subsequently re-ordered to the standard sequence, but enough evidence remained for the original to be reconstructed.
Death
Abdullah ibn Masud died in Medina in 653 and was buried by the night atAl-Baqi' ''Jannat al-Baqīʿ'' ( ar, ٱلْبَقِيْع, "The Baqi'") is the oldest and the first Islamic cemetery of Medina in the Hejazi region of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is located to the southeast of the Prophet's Mosque, which contains the g .... It is disputed whether it wasAmmar ibn Yasir Abū 'l-Yaqẓān ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir ibn ʿĀmir ibn Mālik al-ʿAnsīy al-Maḏḥiǧī ( ar, أبو اليقظان عمار ابن ياسر ابن عامر ابن مالك العنسي المذحجي) also known as Abū 'l-Yaqẓān ʿAmmār i ...or Caliph Uthman who led his funeral prayers. He left a fortune of 90,000 ''dirhams''. Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awam petitioned the Caliph to give Abdullah's pension to his heirs "because they need it more than the treasury does." Uthman granted this request, although the exact value of the pension is disputed.
See also
* Sahaba * List of Sahabah *
References
Bibliography
* {{Authority control 594 births 653 deaths 7th-century Arabic writers People from Mecca Sahabah who participated in the battle of Uhud Sahabah hadith narrators Burials at Jannat al-Baqī