English Translation

Abū Sa'īd al-Khudrī told of Usaid b. Hudair saying that one night when he was reciting sūra al-Baqara (Qur’ān, 2) with his mare tied beside him it moved round in a circle, so he stopped reciting and it stopped moving. He resumed his recitation and it went round in a circle, so he stopped reciting and it stopped moving. Once more he recited and the mare moved round in a circle, so he left off reciting, for his son Yahyā was near it and he was afraid it might injure him. When he had moved him back he raised his head to the sky and saw something like a canopy with what seemed to be lamps in it, and when he told the Noble Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) of it in the morning, he said, “You should have kept on reciting, Ibn Hudair, you should have kept on reciting, Ibn Hudair.” He replied, “I was afraid, messenger of God, that it might trample on Yahyā who was near it, so I went to him, and when I raised my head to the sky and saw something like a canopy with what seemed to be lamps in it, I went out but could not see them.” He asked whether he knew what that was, and when he replied that he did not, he said, “Those were the angles who had drawn near to listen to your voice, and if you had continued reciting the people would have looked at them in the morning and they would not have concealed themselves from them.” (Bukhārī and Muslim, the wording being Bukhārī’s). Muslim has, “They went up into the air” instead of “I went out.”