Jāmiʿ ibn Shaddād relates: ʿAbd Allah ibn Mirdās told us:
“ʿAbd Allah used to address us every Thursday, standing on his two feet, and we would long for him to go on.” (1)
Al-Aʿmash transmits—from Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, from his father:
Ibn Masʿūd said, “If you knew my sins, not two men would walk behind my heels.” (2)
Jābir ibn Nūḥ narrates—from al-Aʿmash, from Abū al-Ḍuḥā, from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allah—who said:
“No verse of the Book of Allah was revealed without my knowing where it came down and concerning whom it came down,” and he went on with the rest of the report. (3)
Al-Thawrī reports—from Abū Isḥāq, from Khumayr ibn Mālik, who said:
ʿAbd Allah declared, “I had recited seventy surahs directly from the mouth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while Zayd still had a single forelock and was playing with the boys.” (4)
= It is also recorded by Muslim, no. 2463 (Virtues of the Companions, “Chapter on the merits of Abd Allah b. Masud and his mother”) through the chain al-Aʿmash – Shaqiq – Abd Allah, with the wording: “I have recited to the Messenger of Allah seventy-odd surahs; the Companions of the Messenger of Allah know that I am the most knowledgeable of them in the Book of Allah, and if I knew of anyone more knowledgeable than I, I would travel to him.” Al-Bukhari transmits it as well, no. 5000, by the same chain, and so does al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in al-Rihla fi Talab al-Hadith, no. 25.
(1) Related by al-Hakim, 3/315.
(2) Related by al-Hakim, 3/316.
(3) Jabir b. Nuh is weak, whereas the rest of the transmitters are reliable. The manuscript has “Khalid b. Nuh,” which is an error, for no narrator bears that name. The report itself is authentic; see note (4) on the previous page.
(4) Reported by Ahmad 1/389, 405, 414, 442; Abu Nuaym, Hilyat al-Awliya, 1/125; al-Tayalisi, 2/151; and Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, 2/149— all through the chain Abu Ishaq al-Sabiʿi – Khumayr b. Malik – Ibn Masud, whose isnad is sound (hasan). Khumayr b. Malik narrated from Ali and Ibn Masud, and from him narrated Abu Ishaq and Abd Allah b. Qays; Ibn Hibban declared him trustworthy, and he is listed in Taʿjil al-Manfaʿa. The narration is also found in Ibn Abi Dawud, al-Masahif, pp. 14–15, and in al-Nasaʾi 8/134 (Kitab al-Zina, “Chapter on the hair-tuft”).