ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās
عبد الله بن عباس
Abū al-ʿAbbās
- Dates
- 619–687 CE / 3 BH–68 AH
- Relation to the Prophet ﷺ
- Paternal cousin of the Prophet ﷺ; 13 years old at the Prophet's ﷺ death
- Hadith narrated
- 1,660
The Prophet ﷺ made duʿāʾ for him: "O Allah, give him understanding of the religion and teach him interpretation." The duʿāʾ was answered.
Life
ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās was only 13 when the Prophet ﷺ died. But he had been raised in proximity to revelation, and in the decades after, he became the most authoritative tafsir scholar among the companions. ʿUmar would sit him in his council among men three times his age, saying: "He has a young body, but an old heart."
He narrated 1,660 hadith and produced the foundational framework of Qurʾanic commentary that Ibn Kathir and every later mufassir built on. He lost his sight in old age. He died in Ṭāʾif in 687. His school of tafsir is the single oldest unbroken chain of Qurʾanic interpretation in Sunni Islam.
Passages that mention ʿAbdullāh
-
"the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was the most generous of people, and this is agreed upon in the narration from Ibn Abbas,"
-
"Another story a man attempted to embarrass Ubaidullah Ibn Abbas by inviting the nobleman of Quraysh to his home for lunch without his knowledge"
-
"Abdullah Ibn Abbas stood up took them by the hand brought them into his house opened a chest and pulled out six blocks of gold"
-
"Ibn Abbas shared an instance where the Prophet gave one of his wives a wide garment and told her to wear it praise Allah and"
-
"The reciters gathered with Ibn Abbas the governor there saying we have a neighbor who fasts and prays by night"
-
"the bondage of offspring, more severe is self-stimulation, and the most heinous is fornication. Ibn Abbas"
Also from this generation
- Abū Hurayrah
أبو هريرة
Narrated 5,374 hadith — more than any other companion. A walking archive of the Prophet's ﷺ final years.
- ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar
عبد الله بن عمر
The companion who most strictly imitated the Prophet's ﷺ smallest actions — down to where he stepped.
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd
عبد الله بن مسعود
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever wants to recite the Qurʾan as fresh as it was revealed, let him recite as Ibn Masʿūd recites."