Explanation of the hadith of 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) (that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud to climb a tree and bring him something from it

The Shaykh : The second hadith that the author (may Allah have mercy on him) cited in this chapter is what was narrated from 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud to climb a tree and bring him something from it, so his companions looked at 'Abdullah's leg and laughed at the thinness of his legs, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What are you laughing at! The leg of 'Abdullah is heavier in the scale than Uhud." The leg of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud is heavier than Uhud in the scale with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), and that is only because he was among the early, foremost of the emigrants, and he was granted a great share of knowledge and jurisprudence in Islam; therefore, the mention of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud appears in more than one authentic hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He said, for example: meaning: 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. And he also said (peace and blessings be upon him), in explaining some of the virtues of Ibn Mas'ud: . So 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) is among those Companions who were granted an abundant share of merits, virtues, and knowledge. The point of citing this hadith under this chapter is to establish, also, the permissibility of going outside the town, either for a profession or craft, as in the established report of Abu Sa'id where he went out to his date palm, or for a walk or a stroll, as may be the case with this hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, because 'Ali says at the beginning: . It is the norm that such trees were not specifically in the middle of the city at that time, but rather outside it. And Imam al-Bukhari narrated, as will come shortly or later, if Allah wills, meaning the elevated slopes that overlook [the area]. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) loved this kind of going out. So here, when he ordered Ibn Mas'ud to cut a branch from a tree, it may have been in the way of a stroll or in the way of working beyond the farm or the like. When Ibn Mas'ud climbed the tree and his companions looked at 'Abdullah's leg, they laughed at the thinness of his legs, meaning its slenderness. It appears from this hadith that Ibn Mas'ud was a slender, small-bodied person; he was not a stout, muscular man. When he climbed the tree, and they were, of course, wearing the izar (lower garment) and not the trousers that we used to wear in the past or the pants that people have been afflicted with recently, but they were modest in their clothing, it was only a garment with which one of them covered his 'awrah, which is the izar. If he added something else to that, it was the rida' (upper garment), meaning two cloths: one for the upper part and one for the lower part. When one of them climbed to a high place, the leg was revealed more than if he were walking on the ground as usual. This is because there is a sunnah that men must know: the sunnah is that the garment with which the Muslim covers his lower body, which was known in the past as the izar and what takes its place today, the best for it is that it not be long. The best is that it reaches to the middle of the leg; this is the highest degree in virtue. If it is longer, then to the ankles; this is a dispensation. If it exceeds the ankles, it is in the Fire. Therefore, lengthening the abaya to below the ankles—we are speaking about men. As for you, take it as your own and do not take it to heart, because people here are the opposite: the longer she makes her hem, the more pleased she is with her Lord. We are speaking about men. For men, the best is for the garment to be to the middle of the legs. If it is longer, then to above the ankles. If it is longer than below the ankles, it is in the Fire, meaning its owner deserves the punishment of the Fire. And this means that the pants, which in their origin are not prescribed as clothing, first because of imitating the disbelievers, and also because of the exposure of the thighs and the 'awrah, are not permissible from this aspect. And they are also not permissible from another aspect, which is that they are long to below the ankles. Today, the pants almost cover the entire foot of a man with their length and width. This is in the Fire, explicitly in the hadith. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): ; and therefore he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . The point is that the Companions were following the sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and taking the best of it, following the command of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He): "take" . He said (Blessed and Exalted is He): . So the Companions were following the best of what was revealed to them. The best is that the garment be to the middle of the leg. So it was supposed that the garment of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud be to the middle of the leg. When he climbed the tree, approximately the whole leg was revealed, so its slenderness appeared to the people and they laughed. This laughter, of course, was not mockery; that is not what is expected of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Rather, this laughter means it comes suddenly to some people when they see something strange. When Ibn Mas'ud climbs the tree and his leg appears like the leg of a horse or the like, some people laugh. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to draw the attention of those people to the fact that this one whose leg's slenderness you are surprised by, and this slenderness has no weight, but it has weight with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the degree that it weighs the mountain of Uhud . This is the nineteenth chapter after the hundred.