On the merit of Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him
3192—“What are you laughing at?” They said, “O Prophet of Allah, at the thinness of his shins!” He said:
“By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, they are heavier in the Scale than Mount Uhud.”
It is reported from Ibn Mas‘ud and ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.
- As for the hadith of Ibn Mas‘ud, it has two routes:
The first is through Hammad ibn Salamah, from ‘Asim, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh, from Ibn Mas‘ud: Ibn Mas‘ud was gathering siwak sticks from an arak tree. His shins were thin, and the wind caused him to sway, so the people laughed at him. Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: … and he mentioned it.
It was recorded by Ahmad (1/420–421), Ibn Sa‘d (3/155), Ibn Hibban (9/103/7029), as well as al-Tayalisi (355), Abu Ya‘la (9/209–210), al-Bazzar (3/249/2678), al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (9/75/8452), and Abu Nu‘aym in al-Hilyah (1/127), all through routes from Hammad with this chain.
Zā’idah differed from him, narrating: from ‘Asim ibn Abi al-Najud, from Zirr, who said: … and he mentioned it as a mursal report, with no mention of Ibn Mas‘ud.
It was recorded by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (12/113/11279).
Zā’idah—who was Ibn Qudamah—had a stronger memory than Hammad ibn Salamah; however, Hammad’s version is supported by the other route, narrated by Sahl ibn Hammad Abu ‘Attab: Shu‘bah narrated to us, from Mu‘awiyah ibn Qurrah, from his father, that Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud climbed a tree … the hadith with similar wording.