3 of 4 · Madinah years · c. 622–632 CE · The Prophet's Mosque, Madinah
Ubayy ibn Ka'b رضي الله عنه
"Both of You Are Right"
Ubayy was in the mosque when a man came in and prayed, reciting a surah in a way Ubayy did not recognise. Then another man entered and recited the same surah differently. When they finished, Ubayy took them both to the Prophet ﷺ and said that each had recited in a way he disapproved of.
The Prophet ﷺ asked each to recite, and said to both of them, "You have done well." Ubayy felt a doubt stir within him such as he had not felt even in the days before Islam. The Prophet ﷺ saw it, and struck him on the chest; Ubayy broke into a sweat and felt as though he were looking at Allah in awe.
The Prophet ﷺ then told him that Jibril had come with the command to recite the Qur'an in one manner, and that he had asked for ease for his community until he was granted seven. Each of them was right (Sahih Muslim 820).
When both recitations come from the Prophet ﷺ, we do not judge by what we are used to.
Do you keep room in your heart for a valid difference that is not the way you learned?
- Sahih Muslim 820 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2419Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, on the seven ahrufHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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