From ‘Abd al-Rahman, from Masruq, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, who said: I was with ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab when Ka‘b al-Ahbar entered upon us and said: "O Commander of the Faithful, shall I not inform you of the strangest thing I read in the books of the Prophets? A hoopoe (hammah) came to Solomon, son of David, and said: 'Peace be upon you, O Prophet of Allah.' Solomon replied: 'And upon you be peace, O Hoopoe. Tell me, why do you not eat grain?' It said: 'O Prophet of Allah, because Adam disobeyed his Lord on account of it, therefore I do not eat it.' Solomon asked it: 'Why do you not drink water?' It said: 'O Prophet of Allah, because Allah, Almighty and Majestic, drowned the people of Noah with water; for that reason, I abandoned drinking it.' Solomon asked it: 'Why have you left civilization and inhabited the ruins?' It said: 'Because ruins are the inheritance of Allah, and I dwell in the inheritance of Allah. And Allah has mentioned in His Book, Almighty and Majestic: "And how many a city have We destroyed that was insolent in its [way of] living? And those are their dwellings, not inhabited after them, except a little. And it is We who were the inheritors." The whole world is the inheritance of Allah.'
His saying, Exalted is He: "And never would your Lord have destroyed the cities until He had sent to their mother [i.e., principal city] a messenger."
[The first perspective]
17018 - Abu Zur‘ah narrated to us, Safwan ibn Salih narrated to us, al-Walid narrated to us, Sa‘id ibn Bashir narrated to us, from al-Hasan regarding the saying of Allah: "And never would your Lord have destroyed the cities until He had sent to their mother [ummiha] a messenger," meaning: in their capitals.
And the second perspective:
17019 - Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us, al-‘Abbas narrated to us, Yazid narrated to us, from Sa‘id, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "And never would your Lord have destroyed the cities until He had sent to their mother [ummiha] a messenger," and the Mother of Cities (Umm al-Qura) is Mecca.
17020 - ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn narrated to us, Muhammad ibn al-Mutawakkil narrated to us, ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us, Ibn Jurayj narrated to us, he said: Mujahid and ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah said: The House [the Kaaba] is the Mother of Cities.
His saying, Exalted is He: "A messenger."
17021 - Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us, al-‘Abbas informed us, Yazid narrated to us, from Sa‘id, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "Until He had sent to their mother a messenger," He sent to them a messenger, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
His saying, Exalted is He: "Reciting to them Our verses."
17022 - Abu Zur‘ah narrated to us, Yahya ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Bukayr narrated to us, ‘Abd Allah ibn Lahi‘ah narrated to me, ‘Ata’ ibn Dinar narrated to me, from Sa‘id ibn Jubayr regarding the saying of Allah: "Our verses," meaning: the Quran.
