Muḥammad; Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdam narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, who said: “I heard Jundub ibn ʿAbd Allah—and I do not think otherwise than that he traced it back to the Prophet—say: ‘Recite the Qur’an so long as your hearts are in harmony over it; but when you begin to differ about it, then rise and leave it.’ (1)
ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAlawī informed us: Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qaṭīʿī related to us in person; Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn al-Zāghūnī also narrated to us. ḥ
Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq likewise informed us; ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Zāhid narrated to us; Hibat Allah ibn Aḥmad al-Shiblī narrated to us; both of them said:
Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhalliṣ narrated to us; Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī narrated to us; Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Zahrānī narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from Ayyūb, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from Bilāl, who testified that the Prophet ﷺ prayed between the two pillars, directly in front of him, inside the Kaʿba.
Muslim also recorded this report (2) through al-Zahrānī.
With the same chain reaching al-Zahrānī: Ḥammād ibn Zayd, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Ibn ʿUmar, from Bilāl, said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed inside the House.” (3)
Ibn ʿAbbās, however, said: “He did not pray inside it; he only pronounced the takbīr in its corners.” (4)
(1) Al-Bukhari also recorded this hadith, 9/87, in the section on the virtues of the Qur’an, chapter: “Recite the Qur’an as long as your hearts remain in harmony,” and again 13/289 in the book of al-Iʿtisam, through the isnad of Ishaq b. Rahawayh – ʿAbd al-Samad – Hammam – Abu ʿImran al-Jawni.
The sense of the report is: recite the Qur’an while your hearts concur; if you disagree over its meanings, separate so that discord does not lead you to evil.
Qadi ʿIyad explains that the prohibition may have been specific to the Prophet’s lifetime lest such debate cause verses displeasing to them to be revealed, as in the divine saying, “Do not ask about matters which, if disclosed to you, would distress you” (Q 5:101).
Alternatively, the meaning could be: read and adhere to the unity to which the Qur’an guides; but if disagreement or a doubt provoking contention arises, stop the recitation, cling to the unequivocal verses that foster concord, and leave aside the ambiguous ones that lead to division.
This is comparable to his statement: “When you see those who follow what is ambiguous thereof, beware of them.”
(2) Hadith no. 1329 (389) in the Book of Hajj, chapter: Recommendation that the pilgrim—and others—enter the Kaʿba and pray inside it.
(3) Its chain of transmission is sound.
(4) Reported by al-Bukhari, 3/375–376, in the Book of Hajj, chapter: “One who pronounced the takbir in the precincts of the Kaʿba”; also by Abu Dawud, no. 2027. See further Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Maʿad (Risala edition), 2/297.