Muslim Minds

Imaam Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in his Tafseer of Aayat al-Kursiy from Soorat al-Baqarah:

This is Aayat al-Kursiy, which has a high status. It was reported in a saheeh hadeeth from the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that it is the greatest aayah in the Book of Allaah… It was narrated from Ubayy, i.e., Ubayy ibn Ka’b that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked him which aayah in the Book of Allaah was the greatest. He said, “Allaah and His Messenger know best.” He repeated it several times, then he said, “Aayat al-Kursiy.” The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “Congratulations upon your knowledge O Abu’l-Mundhir. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, it has a tongue and two lips, and it glorifies the Sovereign (i.e., Allaah) at the foot of the Throne.” This was also narrated by Muslim, without the phrase “By the One in Whose hand is my soul…”.

It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ubayy ibn Ka’b that his father told him that he had a vessel in which he kept dates. He used to check on it and found that the number was decreasing. So he kept guard on it one night and saw a beast that looked like an adolescent boy. He said: “I greeted him with salaams and he returned my greeting, then I asked him, ‘What are you, a jinn or a human?’ He said, ‘A jinn.’ I said to him, ‘Show me your hand.’ So he showed me his hand, and it looked like a dog’s paw with dog’s fur. I said, ‘Do all the jinn look like this?’ He said, ‘I know no one among the jinn who is stronger than I.’ I said, ‘What made you do what you did [i.e., taking the dates]?’ He said, ‘We heard that you are a man who loves charity, and we wanted to have some of your food.’” Ubayy asked him, “What will protect us from you?” He said, “This aayah, Aayat al-Kursiy.” Then the next day he [Ubayy] went to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and told him (about what had happened) and he said, “The evil one spoke the truth.”…

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- I admire the Pious but I’m not one of them.