12:38Yusuf

Zaid bin 'Amr bin Nufail went to Sham, inquiring about a true religion to follow. He met a Jewish religious scholar and asked him about their religion. He said, "I intend to embrace your religion, so tell me some thing about it." The Jew said, "You will not embrace our religion unless you receive your share of Allah's Anger." Zaid said, "'I do not run except from Allah's Anger, and I will never bear a bit of it if I have the power to avoid it. Can you tell me of some other religion?" He said, "I do not know any other religion except the Hanif." Zaid enquired, "What is Hanif?" He said, "Hanif is the religion of (the prophet) Abraham who was neither a Jew nor a Christian, and he used to worship None but Allah (Alone)" Then Zaid went out and met a Christian religious scholar and told him the same as before. The Christian said, "You will not embrace our religion unless you get a share of Allah's Curse." Zaid replied, "I do not run except from Allah's Curse, and I will never bear any of Allah's Curse and His Anger if I have the power to avoid them. Will you tell me of some other religion?" He replied, "I do not know any other religion except Hanif." Zaid enquired, "What is Hanif?" He replied, Hanif is the religion of (the prophet) Abraham who was neither a Jew nor a Christian and he used to worship None but Allah (Alone)" When Zaid heard their Statement about (the religion of) Abraham, he left that place, and when he came out, he raised both his hands and said, "O Allah! I make You my Witness that I am on the religion of Abraham."

"While I was praying, I said: Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim "In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Beneficent." My father heard me and said: "O my son this is a newly invented matter, beware of the newly-invented.'" He (Ibn Abdullah) said: "I have not seen any one of the Companions of Allah's Messenger who hated a newly invented matter in Islam more than him. And he said: 'Ihave performed Salat with the Prophet, and with Abu Bakr, and Umar, and with Uthman. I did not hear any one of them saying it. So do not say it. When you are performing Salat say: Al-Hamdu lilahi Rabbil-Alamin "All praise is due to Allah the Lord of all that exists.'"

My father said, "I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, 'The period of your stay as compared to the previous nations is like the period equal to the time between the `Asr prayer and sunset. The people of the Torah were given the Torah and they acted (upon it) till midday then they were exhausted and were given one Qirat (of gold) each. And then the people of the Gospel were given the Gospel and they acted (upon it) till the `Asr prayer then they were exhausted and were! given one Qirat each. And then we were given the Qur'an and we acted (upon it) till sunset and we were given two Qirats each. On that the people of both the scriptures said, 'O our Lord! You have given them two Qirats and given us one Qirat, though we have worked more than they.' Allah said, 'Have I usurped some of your right?' They said, 'No.' Allah said: "That is my blessing I bestow upon whomsoever I wish."

My father was one of those Companions who took the oath of allegiance at the hand of the Prophet (ﷺ) beneath the tree. The Prophet (ﷺ) said when the people brought him their sadaqah : O Allah, bless the family of so and so. When my father brought him his sadaqah he said O Allah bless the family of Abu Awfa.

"When the Messenger of Allah distributed the share for his relatives to Banu Hashim and BanuA-Muttalib, I came to himwith 'Uthman bin 'Affan and we said: 'O Messenger of Allah, no one denies the virtue of Banu Hashim because of the relationship between you and them. But how come you have given (a share) to Banu Al-Muttalib and not to us? They and we share the same degree of relationship to you. 'The Messenger of Allah said: "They did not abandon me during the Jahiliyyah or in Islam. Banu Hashim and Banu Al-Muttalib are the same thing, and he interlaced his fingers."