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English translation
23. 'Amr bin Maimun said: "I used to visit Ibn Mas'ud every Thursday afternoon, but he never uttered the words: 'The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said.' Then one evening, he said: 'The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said,' then he let his head hang down." He said: "I looked at him and saw that his shirt was unfastened; his eyes were filled with tears, and his veins were bulging out (with fear). He said: 'Or more than that,
[1] For the first part of this Hadith, see no. 485.
or less than that, or close to that, or something similar.'"[1] (Sahih)
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Commentary
'Amr bin Maimun used to visit 'Abdullâh bin Mas'ud ﷺ every Thursday since he ('Abdullâh bin Mas'ud ﷺ) used to hold a weekly session of his scholarly discourse in his house on that day. It is narrated (in Bukhârî, 70) that he was requested to hold those sessions of admonition and knowledge often times once a week, but he said in reply: "The Prophet ﷺ also used to preach only on appropriate times and occasions, lest the audiences should start feeling bored. It follows from this that it is most advisable that we fix a particular time for purposes of preaching or imparting knowledge, so that the people can really benefit by the discourses.
The Arabic word 'Ashiyyah used in the Hadith may mean any time from the decline of the sun until sunset. So, the time of the discourse may have been either after Zuhr or 'Asr prayer. And Allâh knows best.
'Abdullâh bin Mas'ud ﷺ avoided giving a verbatim narration of the Hadith, lest a word that the Prophet ﷺ had not spoken should be attributed to him. There were many other Companions who made a verbatim narration of the traditions. Both methods of narration are correct. Direct narration is considered better although the indirect narration is a safer option.
It is also a part of the etiquette of Hadith narration that if the narrator does not remember the exact words of the Hadith, he should finish his narration by saying: "Or as the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said." We shall read about it in the next Hadith that narrates the practice of Anas bin Mâlik ﷺ in this regard.
