Book 3: Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ said: “I reached the Sidrat al-Muntahā, and I saw that its berries were like clay pitchers [in size] and its leaves were like the ears of elephants. When that which Allah willed enveloped it, it transformed into rubies, or emeralds, or something of the like.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 201

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: al-Rubayyi’, the paternal aunt of Anas ibn Mālik, broke one of the front teeth of a young girl. The relatives of al-Rubayyi’ asked for pardon but the girl’s family refused. They went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ, who said, “[The ruling of Allah’s Book is] retribution.” Anas ibn al-Naḍr said, “O Messenger of Allah, should the tooth of so-and-so be broken?” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ replied, “O Anas, Allah’s Book decrees retribution.” He said, “By the One Who sent you with the truth, her tooth shall not be broken.” Thereafter the girl’s family agreed, forgave the offender, and waived retribution. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ then said, “There are among the servants of Allah those who, if they were to swear by Allah concerning something, He would fulfil their oath.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 202

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: One of my paternal uncles prepared a meal and said to the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ, “I would like you to eat and pray in my house.” So the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ came, and in the house was a palm-trunk idol. He asked to be shown a spot in one of its corners. That spot was swept and sprinkled with water, and he prayed, and we prayed with him. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 203

Saʿīd ibn Yazīd Abū Maslamah reported: I asked Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), “Did the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ use to begin his recitation of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah in prayer with ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful’ (Bismillāh) or with ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds’ (al-Ḥamdu lillāh) aloud?” He said, “You are asking me about something I do not remember”—or he said, “No one before you has asked me about this.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 204

ʿĀṣim [ibn Sulaymān al-Aḥwal] reported: I asked Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) whether the qunūt supplication is to be recited before or after the rukūʿ. He said, “Before the rukūʿ.” I said, “But some people claim that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ recited it after the rukūʿ.” He said, “They are mistaken. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ only recited the qunūt for one month, invoking Allah against the men who killed some of his Companions known as al-Qurrāʾ.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 205

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ offered to grant us [the Anṣār] a portion of land in Bahrain, but we said, “We will not accept that unless you grant something similar to our brothers the Muhājirūn.” He said, “You will encounter people who prefer themselves over you after I am gone, so be patient until you meet me [on the Day of Judgement].” They said, “We will be patient.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 206

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Abū Mūsā [al-Ashʿarī] asked the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ to provide him [and others] with riding mounts, but caught him at a time when he was occupied with something else. He said, “By Allah, I will not give you any mounts.” When [Abū Mūsā] turned to leave, the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ called him and provided him with mounts. Abū Mūsā said, “Messenger of Allah, you swore that you would not give us any mounts.” He said, “And I now swear that I will give you mounts.” And he gave them mounts. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 207

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A funeral procession passed by the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ. People praised the deceased and kept praising him, so the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said, “It is affirmed [Paradise].” Then another funeral procession passed by, and people spoke ill of the deceased and kept saying bad things about him, so the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said, “It is affirmed [Hellfire]. You are Allah’s witnesses on earth.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 208

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said to a man, “Embrace Islam.” He said, “I find myself reluctant.” The Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said, “Embrace Islam even if you are reluctant.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 209

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb reported: Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about garlic, and he said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ said, “Whoever has eaten anything from this plant must not come near us”—or he said, “must not pray with us [in the mosque].” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 210

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said: “My mission and the Hour are related like these two”—[pointing with his index and middle fingers close together]. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 211

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ said: “A space the size of a whip in Paradise is better than this world and everything in it.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 212

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I was among the people when a woman came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, this woman has given herself [in marriage] to you; consider the matter.” A man said, “Marry her to me.” The Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ did not respond until [the man had asked again and] she had stood up for the third time. He said to the man, “Do you have anything [to give as a dowry]?” He said, “No.” He said, “Go and find something.” He said, “I could not find anything.” He said, “Go and find something—even an iron ring.” He said, “I could not find even an iron ring.” He said, “Do you know any part of the Qurʾān [by heart]?” He said, “Yes: such-and-such a sūrah and such-and-such a sūrah.” He said, “I have married her to you for what you know of the Qurʾān.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 213

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “It was made from the tamarisk trees of al-Ghābah”—meaning the pulpit (minbar) of the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 214

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ said: “If something unexpected occurs during the prayer, should say ‘Subḥāna Allāh (Glory be to Allah)’. Clapping is for women, while glorification [of Allah] is for men.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 215

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A man peeped through a hole into one of the private apartments of the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ, while the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ had a head-scratcher in his hand with which he was scratching his head. He said, “Had I known that you were looking, I would have struck your eye with it. The permission to enter has only been prescribed because of the [protection of the] gaze.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 216

Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I witnessed the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ [preside over] a couple who performed mutual imprecation (liʿān). They invoked curses upon each other during the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ, and I was fifteen years old at that time. [The husband] said, “Messenger of Allah, if I keep her [as my wife], then I will have lied against her.” Then she gave birth to [a child who matched the description] that was disliked [by the husband, confirming the allegation]. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 217

Abū al-Ṭufayl ʿĀmir ibn Wāthilah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ was returning from the expedition of Tabūk, he ordered a caller to announce, “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has taken the mountain pass, so let no one else take it.” While the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ was being led by Ḥudhayfah and driven from behind by ʿAmmār, a group of masked riders approached and surrounded ʿAmmār as he drove the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ. ʿAmmār struck the faces of their mounts, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ said to Ḥudhayfah, “Enough, enough,” until he ﷺ had descended. When he ﷺ had gone down, he dismounted, and ʿAmmār returned to him. He ﷺ said, “O ʿAmmār, did you recognize the people?” He said, “I recognized most of the mounts; the riders were masked.” He ﷺ said, “Do you know what they wanted?” He said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He ﷺ said, “They wanted to startle the mount of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) so that he would be thrown down.” ʿAmmār then adjured a man from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ, saying, “I adjure you by Allah, how many do you know were at the mountain pass?” He said, “Fourteen.” ʿAmmār said, “If you were one of them, then they were fifteen.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ excused three of them, who swore, “By Allah, we did not hear the caller of the Messenger of Allah, and we did not know what the people intended.” ʿAmmār then said, “I bear witness that the remaining twelve are at war with Allah and His Messenger in this worldly life and on the Day when the witnesses will stand.” Al-Walīd said: Abū al-Ṭufayl also mentioned that during that expedition, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ was told that the water supply was scarce, so he ﷺ ordered a caller to announce that no one should reach the water before the Messenger of Allah. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ reached it, he found that a group had already reached it before him, so he ﷺ cursed them that day. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 218

Abū al-Ṭufayl (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: He was asked, “Did you see the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ?” He said, “Yes.” It was said, “Did you speak to him?” He said, “No, but I saw him set out to a certain place accompanied by ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd and some of his Companions, until he reached a spacious house and said, ‘Open this door.’“ It was opened, and the Prophet (ﷺ) ﷺ went in, and I went in with him. There was a velvet blanket in the middle of the house, and he ﷺ said, “Lift this blanket.” They lifted it, and there was a one-eyed boy beneath it. He ﷺ said, “Get up, boy.” The boy got up, and he ﷺ asked him, “Boy, do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?” The boy answered, “Do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?” This exchange was repeated three times, the boy each time returning the same reply, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ then said, “Seek refuge with Allah from the evil of this one” — twice. Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 219

Abū al-Ṭufayl (may Allah be pleased with him) reported, as narrated by al-Jurayrī: I was circumambulating the Kaʿbah with Abū al-Ṭufayl when he said, “No one remains alive who saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ﷺ except me.” I asked, “Did you truly see him?” He said, “Yes.” I asked, “What did he look like?” He said, “He was fair-skinned, handsome, and of medium build.” Reference: Musnad Aḥmad 220