alAdab alMufrad 3 - Hadith 1

Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad b. Isma’il b. Ibrahim b. al-Mughira b. al-Ahnaf al-Ju’fi al- Bukhari said: Abu’l-Walid narrated to us and said: Shu’ba narrated to us and said: al-Walid b. al-‘Ayzar related to me: I heard Abu ‘Amr ash-Shaybani say:

“The owner of this house (and he pointed to the house of Abdullah b. Masud) said, ‘I asked the Prophet which action of Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, loves best?”

He said, ‘Prayer at its proper time.’
I asked, ‘and after that?’
He said, ‘Then dutifulness to parents.’
I asked, ‘And after that?’
He said, ‘Then jihad in the way of Allah.’”
Ibn Mas’ud said: “He told me about these things. If I had asked him to tell me more, he would have told me more.”

This hadith is classified as Saheeh and is also found Imam Bukharis authentic collection Jaami’ Saheeh and in Kitab al Eemaan.

Narrators

Main narrator is ibn Umar ash-Shaybani. He was not a sahabi, was a masjor companion of Abdullah ibn Mas’ood so it puts him in the generation of the kibaar attabi’een

He was alive at time of Prophet. When the Prophet was sent with message, he was sent as a shepherd to look after the flock.

Benefit when he was talking about Abdullah bin Masood he did not mention his name, he only said the owner of this house. This shows respect but also shows Abdullah ibn Masood which is referred to Daar al Abdillah. When Abdullah is mentioned on its own in Hadith books it means Abdullah ibn Masood – shows the status amongst the rest of the scholars.

Abdullah ibn masood is from the early sahaabah he was. He was the narrator the of this hadith and learnt 70 surahs from the quran from the Prophet. To show the greatness they say he learnt them while Zaid ibn Thabit was still a child playing with the children and he was the main scribe! The spread of Hanafi schools and domination is through ibn Masoods moving to Iraq and then his opinions taking such strength and spreading.

They used to say he was most similar to prophet in his manner and the way he addressed people. Passed away in the 32nd year of hijri and was sixty something years old.

The Question Asked

Which action is most beloved to Allah subanahu wa ta’ala?

We have many similar narrations from various people. What does that question actually mean? Prophet didn’t mention Eemaan and those things before prayer but mentioned: Prayer, Birr al Walidain and Jihad.

Different opinions as to what this question meant:

1. In general what is the best action.
2. Responses are given to exaggerate the action in order to show its importance magnitude
3. The answer changes depending on who asks the question.. Some answers have been: The best are those who are best to their to families, to their women etc. The responder thus answers in a way which specifically benefits the questioner and circumstances of the questioner.
4. The answer would differ according to the time they lived in and what stages they were at. At the beginning of revelation Jihad was the best and was needed and thus was the best action and then once state had achieved stability something else might become more important like at the time of Hajj thus this becomes more important. If there’s a drought then zakah may be more important..