Hadith: O Abu al-Mundhir, do you know which verse of Allah's Book that you have is greatest?

  1. Home
  2. Categories
  3. The Noble Qur'an and Qur'anic Sciences
Category: The Noble Qur'an and Qur'anic Sciences . Excellence of the Qur'an . Virtues of Surahs and Verses .
+ - Vowelization

عن أبي بن كعب قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «يا أبا المنذر، أتدري أي آية من كتاب الله معك أعظم؟» قال: قلت: الله ورسوله أعلم. قال: «يا أبا المنذر أتدري أي آية من كتاب الله معك أعظم؟» قال: قلت: {الله لا إله إلا هو الحي القيوم} [البقرة: 255]. قال: فضرب في صدري، وقال: «والله ليهنك العلم أبا المنذر».
[صحيح] - [رواه مسلم]
المزيــد ...

Ubayy ibn Ka‘b (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Mundhir, do you know which verse of Allah's Book that you have is greatest?" I replied: "Allah and His Messenger know best." He said: "O Abu al-Mundhir, do you know which verse of Allah's Book that you have is greatest?" I said: {Allah: none has the right to be worshiped except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining} [Surat al-Baqarah: 255]. Thereupon, he struck me on the chest and said: "May knowledge be pleasant for you, O Abu al-Mundhir!"
Sahih/Authentic. - [Muslim]

Explanation

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Abu al-Mundhir! This is a surname for Ubayy ibn Ka‘b (may Allah be pleased with him), who was one of the scholars among the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Do you know which verse of Allah's Book that you have is greatest? Ubayy ibn Ka‘b replied: Allah and His Messenger know best. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) repeated the question, and Ubayy understood then that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to hear his answer and the situation was intended for trying and teaching. So, he said: {Allah: none has the right to be worshiped except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining} [Surat al-Baqarah: 255]. Thereupon, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) struck Ubayy on the chest and remarked: May knowledge be pleasant for you, O Abu al-Mundhir! This is a supplication for knowledge to be made easy for Ubayy and be firmly settled in him. He struck him on the chest as reference to the abundant knowledge and wisdom filling that chest.

Translation: French Spanish Turkish Urdu Indonesian Bosnian Bengali Chinese Persian Indian Vietnamese Sinhala Uyghur Kurdish Hausa Malayalam Telgu Swahili Tamil Burmese Thai Pashto Assamese Albanian Swedish amharic Dutch Gujarati Dari
View Translations

Benefits from the Hadith

  1. The Hadīth highlights great excellence for Ubayy ibn Ka‘b (may Allah be pleased with him), as the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) congratulated him on having ample knowledge and supplicated for him.
  2. It shows Ubayy ibn Ka‘b's politeness in his reply to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).
  3. A teacher should motivate his student if he says or does something right, and should tell him about that and express his happiness about it.
  4. A teacher may pose questions to his students to test their knowledge.
  5. A scholar should show particular respect to his virtuous companions and may call them by their surnames.
  6. It is permissible to praise someone to his face, if this achieves a good purpose and is not feared that it will make him self-conceited.
  7. The verse of Kursī is the greatest verse in the Qur’an.
  8. The Prophet's question "do you know which verse of Allah's Book that you have is greatest?" is an evidence proving the permissibility of preferring some parts of the Qur’an over the others.
Categories
More ...
عربي Français Español Türkçe اردو Indonesia Bosanski বাংলা ভাষা 中文 فارسی हिन्दी Tiếng Việt සිංහල ئۇيغۇرچە كوردی Hausa മലയാളം తెలుగు Kiswahili தமிழ் ဗမာ ไทย پښتو অসমীয়া Shqip Svenska አማርኛ Nederlands ગુજરાતી دری