Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (3/232)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “Teach me some of that good speech”—meaning the Qur’an. He replied, “You are a youth endowed with learning.” So I took from his very lips seventy surahs, and no one could dispute with me about them.

Imam Aḥmad narrated the report as well (1) through ʿAffān, from Ḥammād ibn Salamah with this chain. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah likewise transmitted it from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Nujūd (2) with the same wording.

Al-Bayhaqī (3) said: Abū ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū ʿAbdullāh ibn Buṭṭah al-Iṣbahānī (4) related to us; al-Ḥasan ibn al-Jahm related to us; al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj related to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar related to us; Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn al-Zubayr narrated to me—[from his father, or] (5) from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān—who said:

Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ accepted Islam in the earliest days; he was the first of his brothers to do so. The beginning of his Islam was that he saw in a dream that he was made to stand on the very brink of the Fire—its vastness known only to Allah. In the dream he saw his father (6) pushing him into it, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was holding him by the waist so that he would not fall. He awoke in terror and said, “I swear by Allah, this is a true vision.”

He met Abū Bakr ibn Abī Quḥāfah and told him what he had seen. Abū Bakr said, “Good has been intended for you. This is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; follow him. You will indeed follow him and enter Islam with him, and Islam will keep you from that Fire, whereas your father will fall into it.”

Khālid then came upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at Ajyād and said, “O Messenger of Allah—O Muḥammad—what is it (7) that you call people to?” He replied, “I invite you (8) to Allah alone, without partner, and to the belief that Muḥammad is His servant and messenger; and that you renounce what you are upon—the worship of a stone that neither hears nor sees, neither harms nor benefits, and does not know who worships it and who does not.”

Khālid said, “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ rejoiced at his embracing Islam.

Khālid kept himself in hiding, but when his father learned of his Islam he sent men to seize him. He was brought before his father, who reprimanded him and struck him with the handle of a whip he was holding, breaking it upon his head, and said, “By Allah, I will cut off your provision!”

Khālid replied, “If you withhold from me, Allah will surely provide me with what I may live on.” He then went back to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who honored him (9) and kept him close.

(1) Musnad Ahmad, vol. 1, pp. 379, 462. (2) This narration is recorded by al-Bayhaqi in Dalail al-Nubuwwa, vol. 2, p. 172. (3) In Dalail al-Nubuwwa, vol. 2, p. 172. (4) With a full vowel on the unifying bāʾ, it is restricted by al-Dhahabi in al-Mushtabah (p. 84) and by Ibn Nasir al-Din in his Tawdih (vol. 1, p. 556). He is Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Butta, who died in Isfahan in 344 AH (Bishār). (5) The text enclosed in brackets is not found in Bayhaqi’s Dalail. (6) In manuscript ḥ: “kaʾan āt atā yadfaʿuhu”; in the printed edition ṭ: “kāna ātin atāhu.” The reading affirmed in Bayhaqi’s Dalail is the one presented here. (7) In Dalail it reads “ilā man.” The addition of an alif to “mā” with the genitive is a rare anomaly, as noted in al-Khazana (vol. 6, p. 99). (8) In Dalail it reads “adʿū.” (9) Likewise, in manuscript ḥ, in the printed edition ṭ, and in Dalail it reads “yalzamuhu,” which is more likely correct. In the margin beside the line in ḥ appears the word “balagha,” meaning “he conveyed the response.”

أتيتُ رسولَ الله ﷺ فقلت: علِّمني من هذا القولِ الطيِّب -يعني القرآن- فقال: "إنك غلامٌ مُعَلَّم" فأخذت من فيهِ سبعينَ سورةً ما يُنازعُني فيها أحد. وهكذا رواهُ الإمام أحمد (١) ، عن عفَّان، عن حماد بن سلمة به. ورواه الحسن بن عَرَفَة عن أبي بكر بن عياش، عن عاصم بن أبي النَّجُود (٢) به. وقال البيهقي (٣) : أخبرنا أبو عبد الله الحافظ، حدّثنا أبو عبد الله بن بُطَّةَ (٤) الأصبهاني، حدّثنا الحسن بن الجَهْم، حدّثنا الحسين بن الفرج، حدّثنا محمد بن عمر، حدّثني جعفر بن محمد بن خالد بن الزبير، [عن أبيه -أو] (٥) عن محمد بن عبد الله بن عمرو بن عثمان- قال: كان إسلامُ خالد بن سعيد بن العاص قديمًا، وكان أولَ إخوته أسلم، وكان بُدُوُّ إسلامه أنه رأى في المنام أنه وُقف به على شفير النار، فذكر من سعتها ما الله أعلم به، ويرى في النوم كأنَّ أباه (٦) يدفعه فيها، ويرى رسولَ الله ﷺ آخذًا بحَقْوَيْه لا يقع، ففزع من نومه فقال: أحلف بالله إنَّ هذه لرؤيا حقّ؛ فَلَقِيَ أبا بكر بن أبي قُحافة، فذكر ذلك له، فقال: أُريدَ بك خير، هذا رسولُ الله ﷺ فاتَّبعه، فإنك ستتبعُه وتدخل معه في الإسلام، والإسلام يَحْجُزكَ أنْ تدخلَ فيها، وأبوك واقعٌ فيها، فلقي رسولَ الله ﷺ وهو بأجْياد، فقال: يا رسولَ الله، يا محمد، إلى ما (٧) تدعو؟ قال: "أدعوك (٨) إلى الله وحدَهُ لا شريكَ له، وأنَّ محمدًا عبدُه ورسولُه، وتخلعَ ما أنت عليه من عبادةِ حجرٍ لا يسمع ولا يُبصر ولا يضُرّ ولا ينفع، ولا يدري من عَبَدَهُ ممن لا يعبدُه" . قال خالد: فإني أشهدُ أنْ لا إله إلا الله، وأشهدُ أنَّك رسولُ الله، فسُرَّ رسولُ الله ﷺ بإسلامه، وتغيَّب خالد، وعلم أبوه بإسلامه، فأرسل في طلبه، فأتي به، فأنَّبَهُ وضربه بمِقْرَعةٍ في يده حتى كسرها على رأسه، وقال: والله لأمنعنَّكَ القُوت. فقال خالد: إنْ منعتني فإنَّ الله يرزقُني ما أعيش به. وانصرف إلى رسول الله ﷺ فكان يكرمه (٩) ويكون معه.

(١) مسند أحمد (١/ ٣٧٩، ٤٦٢). (٢) ساق هذه الرواية البيهقي في دلائل النبوة (٢/ ١٧٢). (٣) في دلائل النبوة (٢/ ١٧٢). (٤) بضم الباء الموحدة، قيّده الذهبي في المشتبه (٨٤)، وابن ناصر الدين في توضيحه (١/ ٥٥٦) وهو محمد بن أحمد بن بُطة المتوفى بأصبهان سنة ٣٤٤ هـ (بشار). (٥) ليس ما بين المعقوفين في دلائل البيهقي. (٦) في ح: كأن آت أتى يدفعه، وفي ط: كان آتٍ أتاه. والمثبت من دلائل البيهقي. (٧) في الدلائل: إلى من. وإثبات ألف ما المجرورة قليل شاذ كما في الخزانة (٦/ ٩٩). (٨) في الدلائل: أدعو. (٩) كذا في ح، ط وفي الدلائل: يلزمه وهو أشبه بالصواب. وإلى جانب السطر في ح كلمة: بلغ. يعني بلغ مقابلة.