Lesson: 2/50, The Biography of the Sahabi  Abdullah Bin Mas’oud, by his Eminence Dr.Mohammad Ratib An_Nabulsi

Date: October 12^th, 1992

Transcription: Mr. Imad  Allan

Language Editing: Mr. Ghazi Al_Qudsi

Final Editing: Eng. Ghassan As_Saraqbi

Translated by: Hanan Mansi

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad the truthful in promise and the worthy of all trust, and upon his Family and Companions. O Allah, deliver us from the darkness of ignorance and delusions into the light of knowledge and science, and from the mire of lust into the Eden of good deeds.

Honorable believers, in the  second lesson of  biographies, we are discussing the prophet’s PBUH companion, our master Abdullah Bin Mas’oud. Before we  start his biography, his worship, his virtues, his abstention  and his talks, we should pause a little at the topic of biography.

 Biography consists of two things; facts and scripts, analysis and studies. What we need most is to connect the script and analysis with the script and conclusion. Between the script and the conclusion  there is a rule that sheds light on our daily life. Therefore, we care about the analysis and the conclusion  the  way we care about the script found in the books of biography, because this analysis and conclusion give us a law or sunnah, or a rule that lights our way in this world, the other thing; we should all believe that Allah the All Mighty is the same, that means the laws He made, the rules He established, the promises He gave, the glad tidings/good omens He gave us are all the same, they are not changed  for any believer  any time any place. The concept that says  the prophet’s companions were heroes and the prophet was the hero of  heroes is naive. But keep in mind that the door to heroism is open until the day of  resurrection .  Allah the All Mighty is Allah, the same with all his promises, laws,  bestowals, and rules. The thing  Allah the All Mighty bestowed upon  the prophet’s PBUH companions is very precious. But the God still exists, Who granted them victory, grants us, Who gave them gives us, Who made them happy makes us so, Who made them rich makes us so, Who raised them raises us. The historical concept of religion is not right that says: religion is a phenomenon that appeared and ended, we say no to them,  it appeared and it still exists. If man applies the rules of religion, he/she will reap its fruits. All I wanted in this biography lesson is to emphasize this fact

Our master Abdullah Bin Mas’oud was clever at the Q ur’an, the qur’an is in our hands, we can be clever at it, memorize it, understand it, implement  it, and reap its fruits. This introduction is very important, we are at the doors of heroism, either we go forward or go backwards, either we take the initiative or we hesitate. This dignified companion was called ‘Abu Abdur_Rahman’, his mother was called “Um Abd’. He converted to Islam before the prophet PBUH entered ‘Dar Al_Arqam’ the Arqam house; he entered Islam at an early time, he said: “I was the sixth of Muslims”, that is the sixth one who entered Islam. He immigrated to Habasha twice, he attended ‘Badr’ and all the events. He was the prophet’s PBUH companion : in his secret, in his pillow, his ‘siwak’ (cleaning stick for teeth), and in his purification during travel. He looked like the prophet PBUH in his  guidance and way, he was slim, short, dark skinned . He wore the best clothes and had the best smell. He was appointed a judge at Koofah and in charge of the treasury during Omar’s reign. He was also a leader in Othman’s caliphate, then he moved to Madinah  and died there in the year 32 in his sixties . He was buried there at  Al_Baqee’.

After this summary, we will shed strong light on his primary characteristics.

From Abdullah Bin Mas’ood, the owner of translation may Allah be pleased with him, he said: “I was a young man grazing sheep for ‘‘Uqbah Bin Abi Mu’ait’, then the prophet PBUH came with Abu Bakr, running away from the polytheists, so he said: “young man, have you got some milk to give us?” I said: I am entrusted with these sheep, and I am not giving it to you.  Then the prophet PBUH said: “have you got a sheep that hasn’t got any milk?” I said:  Yes, and I brought it to them. The prophet PBUH embraced it, wiped the dug and supplicated, then the dug flew with milk. And this is one of the miracles of the prophet PBUH.  Then Abu Bakr came with a bowl and milked the sheep in it. Abu Bakr drank, then I did.”

 The   first conclusion: this dignified companion, even though he was very young realized by nature that some things are right and some are not, which confirms the prophet’s PBUH saying: “ the best of you in polytheism are the best in Islam if they understand”

[Narated b Al_Bukhari from Abu Hurairah]

Every  believer brother  had ethical stands  in his pre_islamic days before repenting to Allah and making peace with Allah the All_Mighty. And that explains the meaning of the prophet’s PBUH saying, reported by Abu Hurayrah may Allah be pleased with him; “you find people  as metals the best of them  in the pre-Islamic times are the best of them in Islam if they understand, and you find the best people in that matter  hate it the most, and the worst kind of people those with two faces who treat those in one face and the others in another”  

[Reported by Al-Bukhari] 

And from Abu Mousa Al _Ash’ari he said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah PBUH and all  I see in him is Ibn Mas’ood from his family”.

I swear to you  by Allah that between the believers, there are brothers who share loving, trust, taking liberty, consolidation, peace and quietness more than what relatives share, more than a person and his/her own brother. This relationship is genealogical, that is law. In this lesson , if Allah wills, what I am concerned about is concluding rules in faith, Abu Mousa Al_Ash’ari said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah PBUH and all I see in him  is Ibn Mas’ood from his family”. The more  your faith grows, the more your love to your  brothers gets, the more your service to them gets, the closer you get, the more pitiful and advising towards them you get. “The believers in mutual intimacy and mercy are like one body; if one organ suffers, the whole body will suffer from sleeplessness and fever.” Our master Abu Mosa Al_Ash’ari said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah PBUH and all I see in him is  Ibn Mas’ood from his family”. Who are your parents? They are the believers, and that is the meaning of their saying: “Many a brother of yours who is not born by your mother”,

I conclude from the prophet’s PBUH saying in the neighbors’ right; if they seek your help and support, you will give it to them, if they ask to borrow from you, you will lend them, if they gained welfare, you congratulate them, and if  they are inflected with catastrophe or misfortune, you will offer your condolences. Do not lengthen or extend your building so high that you block the wind from them except with their permission, if you buy fruits, offer them some and if you don’t want to offer them, then bring it home secretly and don’t let your children go out and brag about it in front of their children, and don’t hurt them with the smell of your cooking unless you offer them some. If that is your neighbors’ right who may not be a Muslim, then how is the right of the believer? That is why the evidence of our acceptance by Allah is our compassion, modesty, sacrifice, selflessness, humility, connection, exchanging advice, ..etc.

From Al_Qasim Bin Abdur-Rahman, he said: “ Abdullah used to slip the prophet’s PBUH shoes in his feet and walk in front of him with the stick until he reached his assembly, then he would take off the prophet’s PBUH shoes, put them in his arms and give him the stick. And when the prophet  PBUH wanted to stand up, Abdullah  would slip the prophet’s shoes into his feet and walk in front of him with the stick until he entered the room before him.

I say to you: Loving the prophet PBUH is the same as loving Allah the All_Mighty, loving Allah the All Mighty is the same as loving the prophet PBUH, obeying the prophet PBUH is the same as obeying Allah the All_Mighty, and obeying Allah the All_Mighty is the same as obeying the prophet PBUH, the evidence is clear in His saying:.

 “Say (O Mohammad PBUH to mankind): “ If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft_Forgiving, Most Merciful”

[Surat Al_Imran, aya 31]

 “They swear by Allah to you (Muslims) in order to please you, but it is more fitting that they should please Allah and His Messenger (Mohammad PBUH), if they are believers.”

[Surat At_Tawbah (The Repentence), aya, 62]

 “yaħlifoona billahi lakum liyurdookum wallahu warasooluhu  aħaqqu an yurdoohu in kanoo mu’mineen” 

The All_Mighty used the third person singular pronoun in the word ‘please Him’ (yurdoohu), and He did not use the dual pronoun, (please the two of them) (yurdoohuma). We add something here; that if you love Allah the All Mighty and the prophet PBUH very much and cancel  yourself entirely, the reality of  the prophet PBUH will become transparent to you, that is why the prophet PBUH used to say: Reported by Abdullah Bin Yazeed Al_Khutami Al  Ansariy, from the prophet PBUH that he used to say in his supplication: “ O Lord grant me your love and the love of those who love You, and the love of  those whose love benefit me with you..”, (allahumma rzuqni ħubbaka waħubba manyuħibbuka waħubba man  yanfa’uni ħubbuhu  ‘indaka..)

Reported by At-Tirmiyhi]      

Islam without love is a body without soul, it appeared in some sayings: “There is no faith for whosoever has no love”. Is there an evidence for love? There are a hundred pieces of evidence, Allah the All Mighty said:

“O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam), Allah will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the Way of Allah, and never fear of the blame of the blamers. That is the Grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is All_Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All_Knower.”

[Surat Al_Ma’idah (The Table spread with food), aya 54]

“ And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah. But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else). If only, those who do wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is Severe in punishment.”

[Surat Al_Baqarah (The Cow), aya 165]

Whoever loves the disbelievers is assembled with them and he will not benefit anything from his work. Where is your heart? You will see dear brothers that the prophet’s PBUH companions loved him unimaginably. They  sacrificed all their money, their children and their souls for his sake. A woman whose father, husband, son, and brother died, what she said: “ how is the Messenger of Allah doing?” until she saw him, she said: “ Messenger of Allah, every catastrophe after you is not significant”, meaning worthless. That was a woman, in our time how do we express our love to Allah? How do we express that we love Allah the All Mighty more than everything ? Is this the question? We are living civil life now; there is no jihad (holy war); someone is a teacher, another is a lawyer, another is a doctor, a manufacturer, an owner of a business, a merchant, a factory owner , a school student, a college student, someone is  married another is not, how do we all express our love to Allah the All Mighty?    

By applying Allah’s order, which  is very easy and simple. There is a delicate point; Allah the All Mighty creates circumstances for the believer and puts him before difficult choices; something that pleases Allah the All Mighty but damages his interest, a profitable deal but suspicious. If you go on with it, you prove that you love money more than Allah the All Mighty and His Messenger PBUH, and if you refuse it, you prove that you love Allah the All Mighty and His Messenger more than that deal. In   the time of prosperity and well- being, obeying Allah the All Mighty is very easy; I lower my sight and  be truthful and honest, but there are some circumstances that put you before two difficult choices; the world on one side and the obedience of Allah the All Mighty on the other. Had it not been for Allah the All Mighty to put you in front of these two circumstances and the difficult choice, paradise will be easy, and there is a verse that indicates this, Allah the All Mighty said:

 “Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: “We believe,” and will not be tested.”

[Surat Al_Ankaboot (the spider) aya2]

There must be affliction, and we must be put before a situation, either we choose Allah the All Mighty or we choose the world, the verse with the great evidence, Allah the All Mighty said:

“Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you  delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are  Al_Fasiqin  (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).

[Surat At-Tawbah,( The Repentance), aya, 24

We, living the civil life as we do, how can we prove our love to Allah the All Mighty? If we were tested and  afflicted, and put before two situations, sometimes your mother and your wife - that is the closest example-  and the mother is very old. When humans are at old age, they suffer from: weak thinking, too much interference, unbelievable demands, love of control, tightening the domination. Whereas this man’s happiness is with his wife and his mother is a burden on him, but what pleases Allah the All Mighty with you is to be good to your mother and not waste your wife’s rights. Heroism is to stand the whole situation. Therefore you are always put against critical tests, either you confirm your love to Allah the All Mighty and His Messenger PBUH more than the world, or you  confirm your love to the world, money, the wife, the tribe, the family, the son, the trade, and the house. If you were in a fancy rented house that is not yours, staying at this house is very comfortable, the rent is cheap, the law is on your side and protects you; if you were from those who prefer pleasing Allah the All Mighty, you would give the house to its owner and sleep tightly. Therefore you are being tested; in your trade and your industry, you might use illegal substance in your industry, you may say to yourself: the bread is being baked now, let things go! And there is mass demand on the product , but the believer  fears  Allah the All Mighty and  does not do so. The point is that your love to Allah the All Mighty, whether you like it or  not, must show or not by these tests. There is a question here, are we being tested or not?  Or should we be tested? We must  be tested, Allah the All Mighty said:

“Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you  delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are  Al_Fasiqin  (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).

[Surat At-Tawbah,( The Repentance), aya, 24]

Sometimes you offer your house for sale for five years, and then a buyer comes and offers  three million liras,  you agree and prepare the contract, then a day or two later, someone comes offering you three million and a half. This is a test, either you pass or fail; your success is that you sold the house for 3 million, and the contract had been written, on the other hand your failure is making excuse or tricks like saying: “My wife did not approve, or my son opposed  me”. You are tested in both buying and selling, in everything; either you prove your love to Allah the All Mighty and His Messenger PBUH more than everything, or you prove that anything in this world is dearer to you than Allah the All Mighty and His Messenger PBUH, and this test is inevitable. Allah the All Mighty is effectual for what He wants. Sometimes He sends you an attractive offer, sometimes you have trouble and all the doors are closed except the door of  suspicions, and you have to take a loan with interest. One of our honorable brothers at the beginning of his business life owned a small house, and he was offered a better house for a very attractive price because its owner wanted to travel. He was a merchant and he couldn’t afford to buy it, the story is old, he had some shares. He went to a bank whose manager was Christian, and he said: “Please discount these holdings for me”, knowing that it would be a reversed riba. Allah the All Mighty put words in the manager’s mouth, he said: “ Mr. so and so, you are a Muslim, and in your religion that is prohibited  haram” the man said: “as if he slapped me on the face, I am getting advice from a non Muslim, and in my religion!” The man continued: “ By Allah I cried and went down the stairs saying: “O Lord, I don’t want this house and I’m staying at my house and I won’t disobey You.”  He went to his shop in ‘Hariqa’ (an area in Damascus), as soon as he reached his shop, he saw an old  friend of  his waiting  for him, he hadn’t seen him for a long time,  his friend said to him: “where have you been, I have been waiting for you for half an hour, I am going to Kuwait and I have got sixty thousand  Syrian liras, I want to leave them with you, and I beseech you to use them whenever you need them”. The answer came half an hour later, you said: “O Lord I don’t want this house”, would Allah leave you?

      Dear brothers; the test does not last long, but Allah loves to hear you say: “ O Lord, I won’t disobey you, the world is under my feet”. If you do not take the loan with interest you will not live in the house, if satan came to you and said: “If you do not take the way of riba, you will be in the street” that is satan’s talk, you say: “ I won’t disobey Allah and He won’t let me astray, that is the believer, and the method is sacred to him, Allah’s obedience is the most precious thing to a believer.

Our master Ibn Mas’oud was the closest person to the Messenger of Allah PBUH, he used to wake him up when he slept, cover him when he bathed, walk with him alone. By the way, some people find things perfect for their sheikh or the person who teaches them when he is on the pulpit/platform and behind the chair with his formal clothes, but if they go with him on tour, and see that the sheikh slept or ate, they would find it uneasy, as if the tutor should not sleep or eat or do humane things..!

Look at our master Ibn Mas’oud may Allah be pleased with him; he was the prophet’s companion in the pillow, siwak and  the shoes, the prophet PBUH would say: “Abdullah, where is the siwak (cleaning stick for teeth)?” You would find him responding quickly. A human has a private life, no matter how great he is; he sleeps, feels hungry and thirsty, gets mad! O Lord I am human, get mad as humans do, forget as they do. The higher  man’s faith gets, the less he is affected by the private things. Sometimes man has to stand firm with his son in order to discipline him, he may get mad, and he might have a problem that he cares about as a human.

From Abdullah Bin Zaid he said: “ We came to Huthaifa and said to Him: “Tell us about the person with the  greatest  resemblance to the messenger of Allah PBUH in guidance and way so that we take from him and listen to him, so Abdullah Bin Zaid said: “ The man with the greatest resemblance to the Messenger of  Allah PBUH in guidance and way is Abdullah Bin Mas’oud”

He was similar to the Messenger of Allah PBUH, that is why dear brothers, we as believers have the prophet PBUH as an ideal; when he entered his house, he used to say ‘Assalamu Alaikum’, he was pleasant and cheerful, he used to say: “ honor women, by Allah No one honors them but the  kind” . Therefore, the violent, merciless, tough who is intolerable, who hits and swears; he is not following the prophet’s PBUH path, so we take the sirah (prophet’s biography) and read it in order to apply the prophet’s way and benefit from it.

And listen to the prophet’s compliment to Abdullah Bin Mas’oud. From Alqama, he said: “ A man came to Omar (May Allah be pleased with him) while he was in Arafa and said: Commander of the faithful, I came from Koofah and I left a man who can read the holy Qur’an by heart, so our master Omar got mad and furious and said: “Woe unto you, who is he?” He answered that he was Abdullah Bin Mas’oud. And then the anger went out and he returned to his normal condition and then he said: “Woe unto you, By Allah I know not of a person who deserves this better than him and I am telling you that”. The prophet PBUH was once still awake at Abu Bakr’s house, and I was there, so the prophet left and we left with him, then we saw a man standing up praying at the mosque, the prophet went to listen to him, when we almost knew him, the prophet PBUH said: “ whoever is pleased to read the qur’an as wet as it was revealed, let him read it the way Ibn Um Abd does. Then the man sat supplicating, so the prophet kept saying to him “ask and you will be granted”. Our master Omar May Allah be pleased with him said: “I said by Allah I will give him the good news first thing tomorrow, so I went the next day and I found that Abu Bakr preceded me and gave him the good news. By Allah I never preceded Abu Bakr to a good deed, he always preceded me.”

[Reported by Ahmad]

The prophet PBUH used to listen to his reading and become delighted  although the qur’an was revealed to him, by the way I tell you: the more you are advanced, the more you are delighted with reading the qur’an.  All of you know this fact, sometimes you read the qur’an and you don’t find fluency, outflow, delight, interest, and intonation. Sometimes you read the qur’an and you are delighted to your own voice, and it may be normal voice. A brother once told me that a singer didn’t accept to sing unless he is given one dirham, and doesn’t stop except for a dinar; the start was a dirham and the silence was for a dinar, so his voice is known! 

If the believer is pure-hearted, has good deed, has delightful reading, that pleases him before others. Readers of the qur’an have hours of purity , hours of ascending and revelation, so the rare hours to the readers of the qur’an have revelation from Allah the All Mighty. Omar said he would go first thing the next morning to give him the good news and he went the next day  to discover that Abu Bakr went there earlier. How they love each other, if a brother had good news from the prophet PBUH, he went directly to tell him,, what has it got to do with us?  Sometimes someone may see good vision (dream) for his brother, tell that person the vision and do not keep silent because the good vision is part of forty six parts of prophecy, either the believer himself sees or it is seen for him. If  someone saw a believer whom he loves in a good condition with Allah the All Mighty, in a satisfactory appearance, in a clear symbol, he should not keep silent, that is good news from Allah the All Mighty. Allah the All Mighty is All Wise, either He casts this vision on the believer himself or on a friend or a brother of his.

From Zar Bin Hubaish, about Ibn Mas’oud that once he was cutting siwak from the siwak tree, and he was thin legged,. It seems that while he was cutting the siwak, the wind blew and showed the thinness of his legs, the people laughed at him, the prophet PBUH asked: “ what are you laughing at? “ they said: “ prophet of Allah we are laughing at the thinness of his legs”. From Um Mousa, she said: “ I heard Ali ,may Allah be pleased with him, saying: the prophet PBUH asked Ibn Mas’oud to get him some siwak from the tree, so his friends looked at Abdullah Bin Mas’oud’s legs when we climbed the tree and laughed at the thinness of his legs, the prophet PBUH said: You do not laugh at  a man, Abdullah,  who is heavier on the day of judgment to Allah than Uhud mountain”.

[reported by Ahmad]

Even though our master Omar Bin Al-Khattab was one of the giants of religion, he knew the value of his brothers, and that is a sign of the believer, he left Madinah in order to meet  Bilal, can you believe it? A caliph of Muslims from the top and well known people of Quraish, goes out himself to meet Bilal. And the prophet’s companions, may Allah be pleased with them, used to say when they mentioned Bilal or AbU Bakr: “He is our master and he liberated our master”. Our master Omar was sitting, Ibn Mas’oud came, so our master Omar (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “ he is a man who has been filled with knowledge”.

 Sometimes lewd and worldly people criticize the believers because they always say ‘our master’ whenever they mention the name of any companion of the prophet PBUH.  While the ordinary writers say: ‘Mohammad came, Omar came- Do they think they are their friends?

-Say: our master Mohammad. By Allah dear brothers, a Muslim person who is a son of a Muslim visited Egypt, he asked someone: “where is Mohammad’s grave?” He was answered that he was  in Egypt, he asked: “ Isn’t his grave here?” this was told to me by someone I trust, by the way that visitor was very rich,-an ignorant who thinks that the prophet’s PBUH grave is in Egypt!   Sometimes man learns and learns, attends sermons of  tafseer (interpretation of the holy qur’an), hadith and sirah (prophet’sbiography), Fridays sermons, and reads until he feels that every cell in his body speaks with knowledge, since the level of knowledge is very high, and you won’t know the level of your knowledge until you sit with an ignorant. I remember once I wanted to travel to a nearby country, a relative of mine  who had visited  that country before, offered to take me in his own car, I said that I didn’t mind his company. A friend of his who was a big merchant sat next to him, but he was so ignorant. I rode with them the whole way listening to their conversation, when we reached our destination five hours later, By Allah Whom there is no God but Him, I wished I ate dry bread all my life and never became as ignorant as that rich man!  Silliness added to narrow-mindedness, selfishness, complete ignorance, but he is rich. Keep in mind that the grade of knowledge is the highest. That is why qualifications are wanted in marriage. A man whose daughter is a believer who knows the science of the qur’an and the sunnah and excels in their study, does not entangle and marry her to an ignorant man, he would be killing her with that! Because fame is everything in his life. The girl who memorizes the qur’an and studies the Islamic law must be married to believer, an educated man who appreciates her and values her and her religion and qur’an. I received a letter about the last radio speech, a girl in Hasaka heard it, so she sent it to the Nabulsi mosque, I read it, she said: “ I have a problem, do you agree to my presenting it to you?” I answered that I did, then I received a long letter; a girl who knows the qur’an by heart, and there was a blind man who was a believer. She volunteered to get married to him, of course I admired and honored that situation, since the blind man may have value to Allah the All Mighty. A girl who is well behaved and comes from a good family, but she wanted to sacrifice and be a wife to that blind man. They lived in a small house and her family insisted on her rejecting him and coming back to them, but she insisted on staying with him, and she’s asking what she should do. Of course I said: “ By Allah that is heroism; a woman who knows Allah’s book and chooses a man who is blind and a believer, of course she didn’t choose him only because he was blind, but because he was a believer. So if we want to value the good, educated  woman’s religion, her dowry would be a hundred million or more! Because she keeps your religion and your children, the point is that gathering the ignorant with the educated is very difficult.

Our master Omar met a group of people at travel, and Abdullah Bin Mas’oud was with them, so our master Omar asked a man to call them:

 “where are the people from?”

 Abdullah answered: “ From every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway” [Surat Al_Haj, aya 27]

 Omar said: “And where are you headed? 

Abdullah  said: “The ancient house (the Ka’bah at Makkah)” [Surat Al_Haj, aya29],

Omar said: they have a scholar who is from every deep and distant mountain highway, and they want to go to the ancient house, and he asked the man to ask them: “Which is the greatest verse in the holy qur’an?   

Abdullah answered: “Allahu la ilaha illa huwa (None has the right to be worshipped but Him) the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists”. [Surat Al_Baqarah,(the cow, aya, 255]

Then Omar called them: which verse is the most judicious?

Abdullah answered: “Verily! Allah enjoins Al_Adl (i.e. justice and worshipping none but Allah alone-Islamic Monotheism) and Al_Ihsan (i.e. be patient in performing your duties to Allah, totally for Allah’s sake and in accordance with the Sunnah (legal ways) of the prophet PBUH in a perfect manner).” [ Surat An_Nahl (the bees) , aya 90]

Omar asked: which verse is the most collective?

Abdullah answered: “So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it, and whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it”.[Surat Az_Zlzala (the earthquake), aya 7,8]

Then he asked them: which verse is the most  frightening?

Abdullah answered: “ It will not be in accordance with your desires (Muslims), nor those of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)whosoever works evil, will have the recompense thereof” [surat AnNisa’ (the women) aya, 123]

Omar said: call them, which verse is the most hopeful?

Abdullah answered: “Say: “O ‘Ibadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves  (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the  Mercy of Allah..” [Surat Az_Zumar (the groups), aya 53]

Then our master Omar said: “Call them, is Ibn Mas’oud  with you? They said : “yes”- those words are not yours! Whosoever grasped the whole qur’an; which verse is the wisest? which verse is the most collective? which verse is the most hopeful? which verse is the most frightening?, he must be a scholar. Sometimes you sit with someone who knows the qur’an by heart, as if  the whole qur’an is a page in front of him, and I do not exaggerate! Any topic you find he says: Allah the All Mighty said, Allah the All Mighty said, this is from so and so surah, …. . The one who masters the qur’an is with the prophets and  the righteous people on the day of resurrection.

Ali, May Allah honor him, was asked about the prophet’s PBUH friends, he said: “ which one are you asking about?” they said: “ tell us about our master Abdullah Bin Mas’oud”, so our master Ali said: “he was taught the qur’an and he was taught the sunnah, then he finished, and knowledge is sufficient for him”. If man studies the qur’an and learns it, there is everything in it, and it is words of the creator of the universe, the  curriculum, Allah’s solid cord, the lucid light  and the straight Way.

When Ibn Mas’oud died, a man would tell his friend: “Do you think he left anyone like him?’ and the answer would come: “No”. Our master Abu Mousa Al_Ash’ari said: “ Do not ask me about anything as long as this scholar is among you”. If man was asked and there was someone more knowledgeable than him, the courteous thing to do is  keep silent. Sometimes  a doctor  may be sitting with a group, a patient asks a question, you find people answer the question and the doctor is silent, respect the doctor, you are nothing compared to him. Sometimes the question is juristic/religious and you find people with the guts to answer with the presence of a scholar! This is ill manner. If there is a scholar, you should say: “ ask so and so”, that is why Abu Mousa Al_Ash’ari said: “do not ask me about anything as long as this scholar is among you”

It is concluded from these words that the prophet’s friends knew each other’s rights and their values. Believers co-operate, do not compete, do not envy each other, do not hold grudge against each other, do not badmouth each other, but they cooperate. The best scene I see in my life when I see the missionary people cooperative, respective to each other, honoring each other, and cooperative for the general welfare of the Muslims. But when I see them competing, envying each other, and hurling accusations at each other, each one sees that he is the religion and Allah the All Mighty belongs to him alone, his people are the right ones and everybody else are doomed to hell. This is narrow and silly view. Your belonging should be to the group of believers. If a man’s belief is right, his behavior is disciplined, then he is worthy of respect and honoring.

From Shaqiq ,he said: “ I was sitting with Huthaifa when Ibn Mas’oud came, Huthaifa said: “the closest person to the prophet PBUH in guidance from the moment he leaves home until he comes back, and I do not know what he does with his family, is Abdullah Bin Mas’oud”. The lucky people of  the prophet’s friends knew that the person with the  biggest resemblance to the prophet PBUH was Abdullah Bin Mas’oud. Our master Abdullah Bin Mas’oud says about himself: “By Allah Whom there is no God but Him, no verse in the book of Allah was revealed that I do not know where it was revealed, for what occasion, and if I know that there is someone who knows the Book of Allah better than me the riding animals can reach, I will go to him, and I will become his apprentice.”  

He knows where and why every verse was revealed! This is the believer; either you know, or you are an apprentice to someone who knows. Beware of arrogance! Whosoever pretends knowledge when he does not know is a devil. People are of many kinds; someone who knows and knows that he knows, this is a scholar; follow him, and someone who knows and doesn’t know that he knows, this the oblivious; remind him, and someone who doesn’t know and knows that he doesn’t know, that is the ignorant; teach him. But the most dangerous one is the one who doesn’t know and doesn’t know that he doesn’t know, that is a devil; so beware of him, and the one who is half a scholar, and he is dangerous, neither is he a scholar that people benefit from his knowledge, nor an ignorant that he learns. Tamim Bin Hathlam said: “I sat with the prophet’s PBUH friends/companions and I found Abdulllah Bin Mas’oud the most abstinent one in the world and the most loving to the hereafter. I sat with the prophet’s PBUH friends and I found them like the water system, some water systems can quenchone or two mwn’s thirst, some a hundred men’s thirst, and there is a water system that quenches  all the  people of the earth; Abdullah Ibn Mas’oud is of the last type”

A nice piece of news about Ibn Mas’oud, Abdullah Bin Yazeed said: “ I have never seen a scholar less fasting than Ibn Mas’oud, he was asked about the reason he said: “I choose payer over fasting, if I fast, I become weak at prayer.”

Therefore every person has his own mood. Some people’s mood is compatible with fasting, on the other side some people stop working if they fast. We are talking about the supererogatory fasting (not obligatory). Some people find that performing the  supererogatory fasting suitable and some find all their businesses and services to people are disrupted by fasting. Our master Ibn Mas’oud was realistic in choosing prayer over fasting, it seems that his recitation, reading, prayer and his good deed are active when he is not fasting. That is why some of the prophet’s PBUH  friends used to fast and some didn’t during travel, the best thing in this story that those who fasted didn’t blame those who didn’t, and those who didn’t  fast didn’t blame those who did. But nowadays, if someone fasts (from the drudgery Muslims) the day of Aashoora’, whenever he meets someone he would say: Aren’t you fasting today? Boasting about himself and making others who didn’t fast  seem as if they committed a crime!!

Some people are sick, some are tired, and some have ulcers. Each person has his own private situation, do not interfere. Deal with the obligatory duties, if you find someone who is not fasting Ramadan, you have to blame him, otherwise, every person has his private condition. See Abdullah Bin Mas’oud’s example. One of the prophet’s companions passed by our master Abdullah Bin Mas’oud at early dawn ‘sahar’

saying: “ O Lord! You asked me and I answered, You ordered me so I obeyed  You, and this is ‘sahar’ the early dawn so forgive me”; didn’t the prophet PBUH say: “our Lord comes down to the lowest heaven every night at the third part of the night saying who is praying/supplicating for me so I respond to him, who is asking me so that I give him, and who is asking for forgiveness so I forgive him”

[Narrated By Al_BUkhari from Abu Hurairah]

My advice to you all; if things got tight and uneasy,  and you want Allah the All Mighty to grant you anything, remember that the third part of the night is the time when Allah the All Mighty gets down to the lowest heaven.

The prophet’s companion who heard Ibn Mas’oud  praying at dawn break said: when the morning came, I went to him and asked him, he said: ‘our master Ya’qoub (Jacob) said to his sons: “ I am going to ask Allah to forgive you” , why didn’t he say; I will ask Allah the All Mighty for your forgiveness now? Because he knew that the dawn break is  a time for responding.

And All Praise Be to Allah Lord of the Worlds