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`ABD ALLAH IBN MAS'UUD
The First Reiter of Qur'aan
Before the Prophet (PBUH) entered Daar Al-Arqam, lbn Mas'uud had declared his belief in him. He
was the sixth one to embrace Islam and follow the Prophet (PBUH). Thus he was one of the early
Muslims.
He narrated his first meeting with the Prophet (PBUH): I was a young shepherd boy responsible for
the sheep of `Uqbah lbn Abu Mu'ait. The Prophet (PBUH) once came with Abu Bakr and said, "O boy,
do you have milk for us to drink?" and I said, "I can't let you drink their milk." The Prophet (PBUH)
said, "Do you have a virgin sheep that has never mated with a male?" I said, "Yes" and brought it to
them. The Prophet (PBUH) caught it and stroked its udder and prayed to Allah till the udder filled. Abu
Bakr brought him a concave rock into which he milked the sheep. Abu Bakr drank the milk, and then
after that the Prophet said to the udder, "Shrink," and it did. I went to the Prophet after this incident and
said to him, "Teach me this kind of talk." The Prophet (PBUH) said, "You are already a learned boy."
`Abd Allah lbn Mas'uud was fascinated to see the pious Servant and Messenger of Allah supplicate
Allah and stroke a virgin udder till it gave milk, pure and agreeable to those who drank it. lbn Mas'uud
did not realize that what he had seen was but the least wonderful miracle and that soon he would see at
the hands of that honorable Prophet other miracles that would shake the world and fill it with light and
faith. He did not realize either that he himself, the poor, weak, hired shepherd boy working for `Uqbah
lbn Abu Mu'ait would be one of those miracles when he became, through his Islam, a strong believer
capable of defeating the pride of the Quraish and overcoming the oppression of its martyrs.
Before his Islam he never dared to pass by a session attended by any Quraish nobleman except with
hastened steps and a bowed head, but after Islam he was capable of going to the Ka'bah, where the elite
Quraish congregated and standing among them reading the Qur'aan in a loud, beautiful, impressive
voice: "In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, The Most Beneficent! Has taught
the Qur'aan. He created man. He taught him eloquent speech. The sun and the moon run on their fixed
courses (exactly) calculated with measured out stages for each. And the herbs (or stars) and the trees both
prostrate " (55:1-6).
He went on reciting while the Quraish were thunderstruck, not believing their own eyes or ears.
They could not imagine that the one challenging their pride was just one of their hired shepherd boys
who was the poor unknown `Abd Allah Ibn Mas'uud. Let us hear an eye witness, Az-Zubair (May Allah
be pleased with him), describe the exciting scene: `Abd Allah Ibn Mas'uud was the first one to recite
Qur'aan publicly in Makkah after the Prophet (PBUH). It happened one day that the Prophet's
Companions were gathered with the Prophet (PBUH). They said, "By Allah, the Quraish have never
heard the Qur'aan being recited to them before. Isn't there any man to recite it so that they may hear it?"
Thereupon Abd Allah Ibn Mas`uud said, "I." They said, "We are afraid they may harm you. We want a
man with a strong family to protect him from those people if they want to harm him." He said, "Let me
go, Allah will protect me." Ibn Mas`uud went to the Maqaam at the Ka`bah and recited " In the Name of
Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, The Most Beneficent! Has taught the Qur'aan... " and he
went on reciting. The Quraish gazed at him and said, "What does Ibn Umm `Abd say? He is reciting
some of what Muhammad came with." They went to him and began to beat him in the face while he was
reciting till he finished whatever Allah wished him to recite from the surah. He returned to his friends
with a wounded face and body, and they told him, "This is what we were afraid would happen to you."
He answered them, `Those enemies of Allah have never been more worthless to me than this moment,
and if you wish I will go back to them and do the same tomorrow." They said, "No, it is enough for you.
You have made them hear what they hated."