ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ, reporting from Saʿīd, from Qatādah, said with regard to the verse, “And if Satan should cause you to forget, then do not sit, after the reminder… ” (Q 6:68): Allah only forbade His Messenger to sit with those who mock the Book of Allah for as long as forgetfulness overtakes him; once he remembers, he must turn away. (1)
Abū Salamah al-Tabūdhakī narrated to us; Abū Hilāl narrated to us; Qatādah narrated, saying:
“The Children of Israel said, ‘Our Lord, You are in heaven while we are on earth; how shall we know Your pleasure and Your anger?’
He replied, ‘When I am pleased with you, I put your best people in authority over you; when I am angry with you, I set the worst of you in authority over you.’”
Among the elevated chains that have reached us from Qatādah is the following:
Abū al-Maʿālī al-Hamdānī informed us; al-Fatḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Salām informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar the judge, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭarāʾifī and Muḥammad ibn al-Dāyah all said:
Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslimah informed us; ʿUbayd Allāh al-Zuhrī informed us; Jaʿfar al-Firyābī informed us; Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd narrated to us; Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us—from Qatādah, from Anas ibn Mālik, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī—who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘The parable of the believer who recites the Qur’an is that of the citron: its fragrance is pleasant and its taste is sweet. The believer who does not recite the Qur’an is like the date: it has no scent, yet its taste is sweet. The hypocrite who recites the Qur’an is like the basil: its fragrance is pleasant but its taste is bitter. And the hypocrite who does not recite the Qur’an is like the colocynth: it has no scent and its taste is bitter.’”
With the same isnād to al-Firyābī: Hudbah ibn Khālid narrated to us; Hammām ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us; Qatādah—from Anas—from Abū Mūsā—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The parable of the believer who recites the Qur’an is like the citron …,” and he related the remainder of the ḥadīth.