“Who put this here?” They answered, “Ibn ʿAbbās.” He then said,

“O Allah, grant him understanding of the religion and teach him the interpretation.”

Al-Thawrī and others narrated—through Layth, from Abū Jahḍham Mūsā ibn Sālim—from Ibn ʿAbbās that he saw Gabriel, and that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed that he be given wisdom; in another wording, knowledge—twice (1).

Al-Dāraquṭnī said: Ḥamzah ibn al-Qāsim al-Hāshimī and others told us, “Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab narrated to us, from Abū Mālik (2) al-Nakhaʿī, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said, ‘I saw Gabriel twice, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ supplicated for me to be granted wisdom twice.’” Al-Dāraquṭnī then remarked, “This is a gharīb narration in the line of transmission of Abū Isḥāq al-Sabiʿī from ʿIkrimah; it is unique to Abū Mālik al-Nakhaʿī ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ḥusayn.”

Imām Aḥmad said: Hushaym (3) narrated to us, from Khālid, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ drew me to himself and said, “O Allah, teach him wisdom.” (4)

Aḥmad also related it through Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah, from Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, from ʿIkrimah, from him, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ pulled me close and said, “O Allah, teach him the Book.” The same report was transmitted by al-Bukhārī, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah (5) on the authority of Khālid—namely, Khālid ibn Mihrān al-Ḥadhdhāʾ—from ʿIkrimah, from him; al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

Imām Aḥmad (6) also said: Abū Saʿīd narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn Bilāl narrated to us; Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, from (7) ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“O Allah, give Ibn ʿAbbās wisdom and teach him the interpretation.”

Aḥmad alone recorded it. Several transmitters have reported this ḥadīth from ʿIkrimah with similar wording; some relay it mursal from ʿIkrimah, but the connected chain is the sound one, for a number of the Successors narrated it from Ibn ʿAbbās. It is also transmitted through the chain of the Commander of the Believers al-Mahdī, from his father, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr—ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās—from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“O Allah, teach him the Book and grant him understanding of the religion.”

Imām Aḥmad (8) further said: Abū Kāmil and ʿAffān al-Maʿnī both told us: Ḥammād narrated to us; ʿAmmār ibn Abī ʿAmmār narrated to us, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: I was with my father in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ while a man was privately conferring with him. ʿAffān added: and he was