so I replied to Him: 'Lighten it for my nation.' Then He replied to me a second time: 'Recite the Qur'an according to one mode.' So I replied to Him: 'Lighten it for my nation.' Then He replied to me a third time: 'Recite it according to seven modes, and for every reply I gave you back, you have a request to ask of Me.' So I said: 'O Allah, forgive my nation! O Allah, forgive my nation!' And I deferred the third for a day when all creation will turn to me in desire, even Abraham." Except that Ibn Bayān said in his narration: "So the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said to them: 'You have done right and done well.'" And he also said: "So I gushed with sweat." (1)
31- Abū Kurayb narrated to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, with his chain of transmission from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, similar to it, and he said: He said to me: "I seek refuge for you with Allah from doubt and denial." And he also said: "Allah commanded me to recite the Qur'an according to one mode, so I said: 'O Allah, my Lord, lighten it for my nation.' He said: 'Recite it according to two modes.' Then He commanded me to recite it according to seven modes, from seven gates of Paradise, all of them sufficient and satisfying." (2)
32- Abū Kurayb narrated to us, he said: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā ibn Abī Laylā—[and] from Ibn Abī Laylā from al-Ḥakam—from Ibn Abī Laylā, from Ubayy, he said: I entered the mosque and prayed, and I recited al-Naḥl,
Notes
- (1) Hadith 30— Its two chains of transmission are authentic. And ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān al-Qannād, al-Ṭabarī's teacher in the second chain of transmission, is trustworthy, among the teachers of Muslim; he is also called "al-Sukkarī". "Al-Qannād" is in relation to "al-qand", with a fatḥah on the qāf and a sukūn on the nūn, which is sugar made from sugarcane.
And the hadith was narrated by Muslim 1: 225 from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr from his father from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, with this chain of transmission, similar to it. Then he narrated it from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah from Muḥammad ibn Bishr from Ismāʿīl.
And Aḥmad narrated it in al-Musnad 5: 127 (al-Ḥalabī edition) from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd from Ismāʿīl. And his son ʿAbd Allāh narrated it in al-Musnad as well 5: 128–129, from Wahb ibn Baqiyyah from Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh—who is al-Ṭaḥḥān—from Ismāʿīl. And Ibn Kathīr cited it in al-Faḍāʾil: 55 from the narration of Aḥmad. The gushing of sweat (irfiḍāḍ al-ʿaraq) means the continuous flowing of it.
- (2) Hadith 31— Its chain of transmission is also authentic. It is a repetition of the hadith before it.
And Ibn Kathīr cited it in al-Faḍāʾil: 55 from al-Ṭabarī in this place, restricting himself to its end, from the beginning of his statement: "Indeed, God commanded me". However, an error occurred in it in the chain of transmission: "from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā from his father from his grandfather"! The addition of "from his father" is an error by a copyist or typesetter; it is not in al-Ṭabarī, nor does it have any place, because ʿĪsā narrated this hadith from his grandfather directly, as in the previous chain of transmission.
And his statement "commanded me I read the Qur'an": is on the assumption of "that" (an), which is established in the printed edition and Ibn Kathīr, and omitted in the manuscript.
This translation was produced with AI assistance and is part of an ongoing human-review process. Found a mistake? Use the feedback option in the reader menu.
