Hadith #10

Arabic Text

English Translation

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭāʾifī narrated to us, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aws al-Thaqafī, from his grandfather Aws ibn Ḥudhayfah رضي الله عنه who said: I was among the delegation from Thaqīf, from the Banū Mālik, who came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and accepted Islam. He lodged us in a tent of his, and he would come to us between his houses and the mosque. When he prayed the ʿIshāʾ prayer, he would come to us and would not leave, narrating to us and complaining about Quraysh and the people of Makkah. Then he would say, 'It was not the same — we were humiliated and oppressed in Makkah. But when we went to Madinah, the fortunes of war went back and forth between us and them.' One night he stayed away from us and did not come until it was long after ʿIshāʾ. We said, 'What kept you from us, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'A portion of the Quran came upon me and I wanted to not leave until I completed it.' We then asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the morning, 'How do you divide the Quran into portions?' They said, 'We divide it into six surahs, five surahs, seven surahs, nine surahs, eleven surahs, thirteen surahs, and the portion of al-Mufaṣṣal from Sūrah Qāf until the end.'