Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was a Meccan shepherd and one of the first six Muslims. According to tradition, he was the first to recite the Qur'an aloud before the people, and afterwards he was the first teacher of Kufa.

A slightly built man of the Hudhayl tribe, he herded the sheep of Mecca's nobles. He embraced Islam among the earliest Muslims, around 613 CE ¹. When the small community asked who would recite the Qur'an openly before Quraysh, the tradition relates that he volunteered. He was beaten for it, and went on his way ¹.

He emigrated twice, to Abyssinia and then to Medina, and fought at Badr ¹. It is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that whoever wishes to hear the Qur'an fresh should hear it from Ibn Mas'ud. Umar sent him to Kufa to teach the Book and rulings, and from his readings and judgments the city's school grew ¹. He died in Medina around 653 CE.

Kufa became the capital of early Qur'anic learning and jurisprudence, and its founding teacher was a shepherd who learned by hearing. His own reading was much discussed when Uthman unified the codex.

The book counts him among those who followed the first vanguard among the earliest Muslims in the secret call. Ibn Hisham counted more than forty men from all the clans of Quraysh among them ^{2 3}. The book calls him Abdullah ibn Mas'ud al-Hudhali ².

He found Abu Jahl with a last breath left in him. He cut off his head and brought it to the Prophet (the killing of Abu Jahl) ⁴.

The Sheikh narrates that Ibn Mas'ud sat in a square reciting the Qur'an and that people of the village beat him (needs_source: a narration the lecture gives without a source). ⁵

The Sheikh quotes a saying he attributes to Ibn Mas'ud: that if he mocked a dog he would fear becoming one (needs_source: attributed saying with no chain given in the lecture). ⁶

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy names Abdullah ibn Mas'ud in several places. In his list of the fruits of Dar al-Arqam, he names Ibn Mas'ud as the reciter of the Qur'an, truthful to the Book of God ^{7 8}. He says each Companion had a dominant quality: Abu Bakr self-denial, Umar truth-telling, and Ibn Mas'ud the Qur'an ⁹.

He recounts a saying of the Prophet that whoever wishes to hear the Qur'an as it was revealed should listen to Ibn Mas'ud, and says he was the only Companion permitted to enter the Prophet's presence at any time without asking leave ¹⁰. He describes Ibn Mas'ud as small in stature and says that on the Day of Judgement he will weigh more than a mountain ^{11 10} (needs_source).

He attributes to Ibn Mas'ud the saying that he would receive ten or twenty questions for fatwa each day (needs_source) ¹².

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds, as his own opinion, that many people speak loudly and issue fatwas without knowledge, and that Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Abbas would have hesitated many times before answering such questions ¹³.

He recounts that some Companions followed Ibn Mas'ud, and that he told them to go back; Ibn Mas'ud is quoted as saying that his followers are a shade of error for them and a trial for him ^{14 15}. Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds, as his own opinion, that a preacher who seeks followers and popularity may mislead people ¹⁴.