Why Are Mawquf Reports So Frequent from Ibn Mas’ud?
This article proposes that the abundance of mawquf reports from Ibn Mas’ud رضي الله عنه may be explained by his deep scrupulousness in attributing words directly to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It appears, the author suggests, that Ibn Mas’ud did not approve of narrating hadith by loose paraphrase and preferred that reports be transmitted in the very wording of the Messenger.
To illustrate this, the article cites the well-known report describing Ibn Mas’ud’s extreme caution whenever he said, “The Messenger of God said.” On one occasion, after uttering the phrase, he lowered his head, his eyes filled with tears, his veins swelled, and he qualified the wording by saying: “or less than that, or more than that, or near to that, or something like that.” This is presented as evidence of his fear of misstating the prophetic wording.
The article then gathers the various sources and scholarly remarks connected to this narration, including discussion from al-Daraqutni about the competing chains and the likely preference for the route that includes additional transmitters. It also cites the judgment that the chain is sound.
The closing point is broader: because of such caution, scholars later recommended that anyone narrating by meaning should qualify the wording with phrases like “or as he said,” “or something close to this,” and the like. Ibn Mas’ud’s practice thus becomes an example of reverence, precision, and humility in transmitting hadith.
Original publication
Originally published on Alukah Network
This is an English version of an article first published in Arabic on Alukah Network.