‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said:

“I was a young shepherd boy responsible for the sheep of ‘Uqbah ibn Abī Mu‘ayṭ. The Prophet ﷺ once came with Abū Bakr (radiyallahu ‘anhu) when they were fleeing from the polytheists and said, ‘O boy, do you have milk for us to drink?’ and I said, ‘I am entrusted so I cannot give you milk to drink.’^[1] The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Do you have a young ewe that has never mated with a male?’ I said, ‘Yes’ and brought it to them. The Prophet ﷺ held it, stroked its udder and supplicated to Allāh until the udder filled. Abū Bakr (radiyallahu ‘anhu) brought him a concave rock into which he milked the sheep. Subsequently, he and Abū Bakr drank the milk, then I drank. After that, the Prophet said to the udder, ‘Dry up,’ and it did.

I went to the Prophet [after this incident] and said to him, ‘Teach me from this speech (The Qur’ān).’^[2] The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Indeed you are a learned boy.’ And I took seventy chapters [of the Qur’ān] directly from his mouth.”

Source: Musnad Aḥmad (no. 4412) Shaykh al-Albānī: Ṣahīh (Ṣahīh al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah [p. 124]).

Footnotes:

[1] This shows the trustworthiness and upright morals of Ibn Mas‘ūd from a young age.

[2] In another narration it mentions explicitly “Teach me from this Qur’ān” – Musnad Aḥmad (no. 3599).

Originallg published: 14 March 2021