Waqar Akbar Cheema
Abstract
A narration from Musnad Ahmad has been mistranslated and sensationalised by polemicists. This piece shows, through lexical evidence, variant narrations, Qur’anic parallels, and classical commentary, that the report describes the jinn crowding around the Prophet (ﷺ) to hear the Qur’an — not the crude insinuations imposed on it.
1. Introduction
Some critics have circulated a narration from Musnad of Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241/855) in a sensational manner, presenting it with language that is both crude and misleading. They reproduce the narration in full but deliberately mistranslate a specific phrase, ignoring both its context and the overall flow of the report. In reality, the narration ends with a clear affirmation of the Prophet’s (ﷺ) honoured status. Before addressing that mistranslation directly, we can go through the narration in outline form to see what it actually conveys.
2. Outline of the hadith report
The report preserved in Musnad Ahmad describes how the Prophet (ﷺ) once took Ibn Masʿud to a certain spot, drew a line for him, and instructed him not to step beyond it. While Ibn Masʿud remained there, the Prophet (ﷺ) moved a short distance away. Ibn Masʿud then witnessed a group of tall, thin figures, likened to the Zutt, who appeared without clothes though he carefully noted that their nakedness was not visible. At this moment, the narration records:
أتوا فجعلوا يركبون رسول الله ﷺ قال وجعل نبي الله ﷺ يقرأ عليهم
~
And they came and started to yarkaboun the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and the Prophet of Allah began to recite to them.
(Here, the polemicists render the word yarkabun as “ride/mount”)
The scene left Ibn Masʿud terrified as they hovered around him. When dawn broke, they departed, and the Prophet (ﷺ) returned, exhausted and in pain as a result.
The Prophet (ﷺ) laid his head down in Ibn Masʿud’s lap to rest, and soon after this, another group appeared, this time clothed in long white garments. They spoke in reverence, remarking that the Prophet’s (ﷺ) eyes slept but his heart remained awake, and they proceeded to deliver a parable affirming the truth of his mission. They declared that he was the caller to Paradise on behalf of the Lord of the Worlds, and in their discussion, they testified to the merits and greatness of the Prophet ﷺ. When he awoke, the Prophet (ﷺ) confirmed that he had heard what they said and identified them as angels.[1]
3. Polemicists’ Contention
At this point, critics seize upon the verb yarkabun (“they rode/mounted”) and insist on reading it in the crudest possible sense, as though the report depicts some physical humiliation. It is this mistranslation, stripped of context and idiom, that fuels their sensational claims.
4. The Lexical Context
The phrase in question must be read in this wider context. Lane’s (d. 1876) Lexicon records the idiom:
“رَكِبَ النَّاسُ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا (rakiba al-nasu baʿḍuhum baʿḍan) — the people bore, or pressed, or crowded (as though mounting) one upon another; a phrase well known, and of frequent occurrence.”[2]
This indicates that the verb can describe crowding and pressing, rather than literal mounting.
5. Other Narrations of the Report
Other narratives of this same incident support this. In al-Tirmidhi’s (d. 279/892) version, the beings are described in the same way as in Musnad Ahmad, but rather than using the verb yarkabun, the text reads:
ثم يصدرون إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم
~
Then they turned towards (yasdarun) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).[3]
Likewise, al-Bazzar’s (d. 292/905) Musnad preserves the variant:
ثم يصيرون إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم
~
Then they went to (yasirun) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).[4]
The alternate word forms confirm that yarkabun – perhaps employed only by a subnarrator – was not meant literally as climbing over, but idiomatically as crowding in so closely around him that it was as though they covered him.
6. A Qur’anic Parallel
The Qur’an itself employs the same imagery:
وَأَنَّهُ لَمَّا قَامَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ يَدْعُوهُ كَادُوا يَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِ لِبَدًا
~
And that when Allah’s servant stood invoking Him, they almost rushed on him in crowds.” (Qur’an 72:19 – Tr. Muhammad Taqi Usmani)
Exegetes offered different explanations: A report traced to Ibn ʿAbbas describes the jinn’s behaviour with the phrase: ركب بعضهم بعضاً (rakiba baʿḍuhum baʿḍan) — “they mounted/pressed upon one another, in their passion to listen to the Qur’an. Another view reports that the jinn described how the Prophet’s (ﷺ) Companions hurried to follow him in prayer, bowing and prostrating in unison; others, like al-Hasan, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd, saw the “heaping together” as humans and jinn joining in opposition to resist his call.[5]
In every case, however, the sense is that of pressing on, rushing, or crowding, whether out of zeal, imitation, or hostility.
Further, Al-Ṭabari also transmits from al-Ḍahhak: “كَادُوا يَرْكَبُونَهُ (kadu yarkabunahu) hirṣan ʿala ma samiʿu minhu min al-Qurʾan” — “they almost yarkabunahu (pressed upon him), out of zeal for what they heard from him of the Qur’an.”[6]
The significance of kadu (“they almost”) underscores that the verb was understood idiomatically: they drew so near as to nearly cover him, not to physically climb over him.
7. Classical Commentary
Accordingly, the narration in Musnad Ahmad is best understood in this idiom: a depiction of beings crowding around the Prophet (ﷺ) as he recited, in line with Ibn ʿAbbas’ reading of Qur’an 72:19, not the crude literalism imposed by polemicists.
Therefore, Abu al-Hasan al-Sindi (d. 1138/1726), in his commentary on the Musnad, explained the phrase directly:
(يَرْكَبُونَ) أي: يزحمونه ويقربون منه
~
“yarkabun” i.e., they crowded him and drew close to him.[7]
Both the internal evidence of the Qur’an and hadith, as well as classical commentary, leave no room for the distortions circulated today.
8. Conclusion
Far from suggesting anything base, the narration culminates in exaltation: the angels themselves declare that he is the one who calls humanity to Paradise on behalf of the Lord of the Worlds. Read in its entirety, the report highlights the eagerness of the jinn to crowd in and hear the Prophet’s (ﷺ) recitation of the Qur’an. By contrast, the polemicists’ eagerness to read their own filth into everything about Islam only crowds out their sense of reason. One eagerness brought testimony to the Prophet’s (ﷺ) honoured mission, the other only blinds to the truth. In the end, the hadith records zeal for the Qur’an, while its detractors reveal only zeal for distortion.
References:
[1] Ahmad b. Hanbal, al-Musnad, Hadith 3788- graded as da‘if (weak) by Shu‘aib al-Arnaut et al. Ahmad Shakir on the other hand graded it as sahih.
[2] Lane, Edward William, Arabic-English Lexicon, (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1968) Book I, Part 3, 1142.
[3] Al-Tirmidhi, al-Jami ‘ al-Sahih, Hadith 2861. Al-Albani graded it as hasan sahih.
[4] Al-Bazzar, Abu Bakr, al-Musnad, (Madina: Maktaba al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam, 1997) Hadith 1886;
[5] Ibn al-Jawzi, Zad al-Masir fi ‘Ilm at-Tafsir, (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-‘Arabi, 1402 AH) Vol.4, 349-350
[6] al-Tabari, Abu Ja’far, Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil ay al-Qur’an, Ed. Mahmud Muhammad Shakir (Beirut: al-Resalah Publishers, 2000) Vol.23, 666
[7] Al-Sindi, Abu al-Hasan, Hashia Musnad al-Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, (Qatar: Ministry of Auqaf and Religious Affairs, 2008) Vol.3, 321 (Hadith 2022)
