Saheeh Seerah Al Albaanee English

(Ibn Katheer said): If he (Sa`d) means that no one embraced Islaam on the same day as
he did, then this is easy to understand, but if he means that no one preceded him in
embracing Islaam, then this is problematic, as we know that Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, `Alee,
Khadeejah, and Zaid Ibn Ḥaarithah embraced Islaam before him; Ibn al-Atheer and
others have mentioned Ijmaa` (consensus) that these (four) were the foremost in
embracing Islaam.
As for his statement: “And for seven days I was one of the three persons who were
Muslims (one-third of Islaam)”, then this is problematic and difficult to explain. I (Ibn
Katheer) do not know on what basis he had said that, except that he might have spoken
based on the information that he had. 182 And Allaah knows best.
Ibn Mas`ood narrated that: “I used to be a shepherd, looking after the sheep of `Uqbah
Ibn Abee Mua`it. One day the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr passed by me - they were
fleeing from the persecution of the Quraish in Makkah - and said: ❝O boy! Do you
have any milk (you could give us to drink)?❞ I said: ‘Yes, but I am only a custodian
(and as such cannot give you any of it).’ He ﷺ said: ❝Does the herd have any young
sheep which does not yield milk?❞ So I brought them one such sheep, and he
ﷺ passed his hand over its udder and it became full with milk and Abu Bakr milked it in a
container. He ﷺ drank from it, and then Abu Bakr. He ﷺ then said to the udder:
❝reduce❞ and it reduced back to the way it was. (Later on) I approached him and
said: ‘Teach me from these words (i.e. the Qur’aan).’ So he wiped his hand over my
head and said: ❝Allaah have mercy on you, you are a little boy and you will learn
(later).❞ So, (over the time) I learned from him seventy Surahs directly from his lips,
and no one else was with me when I learned them.” 183
182 I (al-Albaanee) say: This is what al-Ḥaafiẓh Ibn Ḥajar concurred. He said the same in the explanation of the
Ḥadeeth of `Ammaar: “…there was none with him but five slaves...”
183 Musnad of Imaam Aḥmad (3598, 3599, 4330, 4412) and the chain of this narration is “Ḥasan”.
[TN: Shaikh al-Albaanee in Ṣaḥeeḥ al-Mawaarid (1804) also graded it as “Ḥasan”. Shaikh Muqbil also graded it as
“Ḥasan” in his checking of Ṣaḥeeḥ Dalaa’il al-Nubuwwah (130)]
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