At a glance
Companions- Dates
- Died 32 AH (c. 653 CE)
- Who
- Former shepherd boy who became one of the great teachers of the Quran
- Stages
- The Revelation, and The Call in Makkah
ProfileAbdullah ibn Mas'ud
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was a young shepherd of the Hudhayl tribe in Makkah, grazing the flocks of a Quraysh man named Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt. He was among the earliest to accept Islam. He later said that he had heard the message when the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr passed by his flock.
He was the first to recite the Quran openly beside the Kaaba, in front of Quraysh leaders, and they beat him for it. He did it anyway. Later, in Madinah, he became close to the household of the Prophet ﷺ, carrying his sandals and serving him in daily life.
A well-known narration tells that the Prophet ﷺ once asked him to recite aloud, and that as he listened to Surah an-Nisa, tears came to the Prophet's ﷺ eyes.
Umar sent him to Kufah as a teacher, and he trained a generation of scholars. He died in Madinah in 32 AH.
From the Quran
فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍۭ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَىٰ هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ شَهِيدًا ٤١
So how will it be when We bring a witness from every faith-community and bring you ˹O Prophet˺ as a witness against yours?
Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah
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