The Meaning of the Hadith of Usayd ibn Hudayr Regarding the Descent of the Angels
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: There is a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the effect that a man was standing in prayer at night, and he had a horse with him. The horse would not settle down while he was reciting; rather, it would move violently. So he informed the Prophet (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), and then the Prophet said to him, to the effect that if he had completed the recitation, he would have seen wonders. The question is: What are the wonders intended? And is it possible for a person to see the angels?
Answer:
The hadith is not in these exact words. The one who is the subject of the story is Usayd ibn Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him). He was standing in prayer at night, reciting the Qur'an, and his son Yahya was sleeping with him, and a horse was tied up with him. So while he was reciting, he saw something in the sky like a canopy, like a canopy in which were things like lamps. So every time he recited, it would draw closer until the horse started to run around, meaning the horse was startled by this canopy and these lamps, until he feared that it might trample his son Yahya. So when he stopped, the canopy and the lamps went away and the horse calmed down. So he (may Allah be pleased with him) began to recite again, and the canopy returned with what was in it of things like lamps, and the horse started to run around until it almost, or he feared that it would trample his son. So he was amazed by that. So when morning came, he went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of it. He said: people, because they are present during the recitation. And this is among the miracles of the awliya (close friends of Allah). This is a miracle for Usayd ibn Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The questioner says: There is a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the effect that a man was standing in prayer at night, and he had a horse with him. The horse would not settle down while he was reciting; rather, it would move violently. So he informed the Prophet (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), and then the Prophet said to him, to the effect that if he had completed the recitation, he would have seen wonders. The question is: What are the wonders intended? And is it possible for a person to see the angels?
Answer:
The hadith is not in these exact words. The one who is the subject of the story is Usayd ibn Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him). He was standing in prayer at night, reciting the Qur'an, and his son Yahya was sleeping with him, and a horse was tied up with him. So while he was reciting, he saw something in the sky like a canopy, like a canopy in which were things like lamps. So every time he recited, it would draw closer until the horse started to run around, meaning the horse was startled by this canopy and these lamps, until he feared that it might trample his son Yahya. So when he stopped, the canopy and the lamps went away and the horse calmed down. So he (may Allah be pleased with him) began to recite again, and the canopy returned with what was in it of things like lamps, and the horse started to run around until it almost, or he feared that it would trample his son. So he was amazed by that. So when morning came, he went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of it. He said:
These are the angels listening to your recitation, and if you had continued to recite, you would have seen them
هذه الملائكة تستمع لقراءتك، ولو أصبحت تقرأ لأصبحت يراهاThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
تفسير الشيخ محمد بن عبدالوهاب [7] — alfawzan.live (1:21:38)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.