from Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, from Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, from Jābir ibn Zayd, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said, “The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, paired al-Zubayr with Ibn Masʿūd in brotherhood.” A similar report with another strong chain has already been cited (1).

Shurayk narrated, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, from ʿAbd Allah, who said, “Whenever we learned ten verses from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, we would not move on to the next ten that had been revealed until we understood what they contained—meaning: the knowledge therein (2).”

Misʿar narrated, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Abū al-Bakhtarī, who said, “ʿAlī was asked about Ibn Masʿūd and replied, ‘He recited the Quran, then halted at it, and it sufficed him (3).’” A similar wording is transmitted from ʿAlī through another chain in which he added, “and he mastered the Sunnah (4).”

Muslim also records—through the narration of al-Aʿmash, from Mālik ibn al-Ḥārith, from Abū al-Aḥwaṣ—who said, “We visited Abū Mūsā and found with him ʿAbd Allah and Abū Masʿūd looking into a codex. We spoke for a while, after which ʿAbd Allah departed. Abū Masʿūd then said, ‘By Allah, I do not know that Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, left anyone more knowledgeable of Allah’s Book than this man who has just walked away (5).’”