Musnad Ahmad — Hadith #44760

Affan narrated to us, Abd al-Wahid bin Ziyad narrated to us, Al-Hasan bin Ubaid Allah narrated to us, Ibrahim narrated to us, on the authority of Alqamah, on the authority of Al-Qartha’, on the authority of Qais, or Ibn Qais, a man from Ja’fi, on the authority of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, who said that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed by while I was with him. And Abu Bakr saw Abdullah bin Masoud while he was reading, so he stood up and heard his reading. Then Abdullah knelt down and prostrated. He said, so the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: May God bless him and grant him peace. Ask and it will be given to him. Ask and it will be given to him. He said, then the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, went on and said, “Whoever pleases him is to read.” The Qur’an is pure as it was revealed, so let him recite it from Ibn Umm Abd. He said: So I went to Abdullah bin Masoud to give him the good news of what the Messenger of God said. God, may God bless him and grant him peace. He said, “When I knocked on the door,” or he said, “When he heard my voice,” he said, “What has brought you here at this hour?” I said, “I have come to give you good news.” With what the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said. He said, “Abu Bakr has preceded you.” I said, “If he does it, then he is the first to do good deeds. We have never outdone any good.” Except that Abu Bakr preceded us to it.