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Ibn Shihab said: Ibn Ḥazm told me that Ibn ‘Abbās and Abū Ḥiyah al-Anṣārī used to say that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Then I was taken up until I reached a level where I could hear the scratching of the pens.”1
Ibn Ḥazm and Anas ibn Mālik reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah then ordained for my community fifty prayers. [He said: M] I returned with that until I passed by Moses, who asked, ‘What has your Lord prescribed for your community?’ I replied, ‘He has prescribed fifty prayers.’ He said, ‘Go back to your Lord, for your community will not be able to bear that.’ [He said: M] [I returned and appealed to my Lord: Kh] and He reduced it by half.2
(1) That is, the crackling sound made while the writing is taking place; what is meant is the record the angels write of Allah’s decrees.
(2) In the upcoming narration of Malik b. Saʿsaʿa it states, “So ten were taken off me,” and the same wording appears in Sharik’s version. In Thabit’s forthcoming report, however, it says, “So five were removed from me.” Ibn al-Munir remarks: “Mentioning the ‘half’ (shatr) is broader than assuming the reduction occurred all at once.” I add: the same reasoning applies to the report of ten—it seems the ten were lifted in two stages, while the half was removed in five stages. Alternatively, shatr in the present hadith may simply mean “a portion.” My analysis of Thabit’s narration confirms that the reduction happened five at a time; this reliable additional detail, as noted in Fath al-Bari, should be used to interpret the remaining reports.
قال ابن شهاب: فأخبرني ابن حزم أن ابن عباس وأبا حية الأنصاري كانا يقولان: قال النبي ﷺ:
"ثم عرج بي حتى ظهرت لمستوى أسمع فيه صريف الأقلام" ١. قال ابن حزم وأنس بن مالك: قال النبي ﷺ:
"ففرض الله على أمتي خمسين صلاة.
[قال: م] فرجعت بذلك حتى مررت على موسى فقال: ما فرض الله لك على أمتك؟ قلت: فرض [عليهم: م] خمسين صلاة. قال: فارجع إلى ربك فإن أمتك لا تطيق ذلك
[قال: م] [فرجعت فراجعت ربي: خ] فراجعني فوضع شطرها٢.
١ أي: تصويتها حالة الكتابة. والمراد: ما تكتبه الملائكة من أقضية الله ﷾
٢ في رواية مالك بن صعصعة الآتية: "فوضع عني عشرا" ومثله لشريك. وفي رواية ثابت الآتية أيضا: "فحط عني خمسا "
قال ابن المنير: "ذكر الشطر أعم من كونه وقع دفعة واحدة "
قلت: وكذا العشر فكأنه وضع العشر في دفعتين والشطر في خمس دفعات. أو المراد بالشطر في حديث الباب: البعض. وقد حققت رواية ثابت أن التخفيف كان خمسا خمسا وهي زيادة معتمدة يتعين حمل باقي الروايات عليها كما في "الفتح "