Zaid ibn Thābit: a Lesson in Great Character

Shaikh Muḥammad Naṣir Al-Dīn Al-Albānī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said:

The second and third narrations [to be discussed in this chapter of [Al-Adab Al-Mufrad by Imām Al-Bukhārī’] are mawqūf, meaning, the Messenger ﷺ is not mentioned in them.

However, they contain a clear illustration and description of one of the foremost early Muslim men from the closest of Companions [to the Prophet ﷺ], Zaid ibn Thābit, may Allāh be pleased with him, where Thābit ibn ʿUbaid said [about him]: “I have not seen anyone more highly respected when he sits down with people, nor more good-humored and fun-loving [when he’s] in his [own] home, than Zaid ibn Thābit.”

It is well known that Zaid ibn Thābit was among the senior Companions. In fact, he was the man whom Abū Bakr Al-Ṣiddīq and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb entrusted when they both agreed to compile the Qurʾān, [gathering it together] from the various pieces of leather parchment [that it had been transcribed upon] and from the chests of men [that had memorized it].

They did not find, from among the thousands of Companions [at the time], anyone more suited or deserving of being distinguished and tasked with this duty—the duty of putting the Qurʾān together from all the pieces of it that had been dispersed across leather parchments, bones, and the chests of men—they did not find anyone more suitable to take on this important task than Zaid ibn Thābit, may Allāh be pleased with him.

So the one describing him here, Thābit ibn ʿUbaid, describes this man of virtues and excellence as having in him a combination of two tremendous characteristics that rarely come together in a single righteous man.

So [Thābit] says that he had never seen anyone more honored and respected, when he sat among people, than Zaid ibn Thābit. The meaning of that is that he was a highly respected, great, dignified man; that is to say, men revered him greatly and held him in high esteem. So when he sat in a gathering, they looked upon him as their elder, as their shaikh, as their senior most and most important.

Thus, no one would ever be able to leave off the proper etiquettes of gatherings as long as this eminent Companion, Zaid ibn Thābit, was there.

“I have never seen anyone more honored and respected, when sitting among people, than Zaid ibn Thābit.”

And then there was another characteristic [that Zaid had], on the other extreme to this first characteristic, and rarely do the two come together [in a single person]. [Thābit] says, mentioning it right after the first characteristic: “And no one was more good-humored and fun-loving in his home than Zaid ibn Thābit.”

So when he sat among the people, he was a highly respected man of great honor, but in his home he was good-humored and fun-loving. Meaning, he loved playing around. So with his family, his wife, and his children, he was not stern and imposing, the way he was in gatherings of his people.

Rather, he had two personalities, [so to speak]. When he sat with men, he was their elder, the most notable one among them, their guide. And when he sat with his family, he was the most good-humored and fun-loving among them, the closest [and dearest] of them to the hearts of [all members of] his family.

As for these two characteristics, rarely do they come together in a [single] person, so their coming together [here] indicates the virtue of this man.

What is usually the case with people is that a man is either highly respected wherever he may be, whether that were in a gathering of his people—where being fun-loving and joking around are not beneficial, [since in] public gatherings, nothing is appropriate other than firmness and resolve—so a man of virtues is either like this in every sitting, or he’s the opposite: easy-going, gentle, good-humored, and fun-loving—people being happy with him [in this case], but he’s unable, [in this way], to control the atmosphere [of the gathering] and to take charge of it, giving [it] the weight and gravity [befitting it].

So people are either this way or that, [in their dispositions]. As for having the ability to combine between both personal characteristics, giving each situation its due [of seriousness or playfulness], then this is something rare and scarce.

So the combination of these two personal characteristics in a [single] Muslim man is from the things that prove that [Zaid ibn Thābit] had reached the pinnacle of good character; his manners and conduct with people [in general] were not the same as his manners and conduct with his family and children.

It is in that regard that it has come in some authentic ḥadīths: “The best among you are those who are best to their families, and I am the best among you to my family.”

“The best among you are those who are best to their families, and I am the best among you to my family.”

Naturally, this report, that Zaid ibn Thābit was the most good-humored and fun-loving of people with his family, does not mean—that he was too easy going or lax with them, such that he would not tell them to do good or prohibit them from evil.

No, this is not what is intended. Rather, what is intended is that he was not hard-hearted toward them; nor was he severe upon them; nor did he always deal with them with sternness and strictness. He was only at times this way, and at times that.

Likewise, the saying of the Messenger ﷺ, “The best among you are those who are best to their families, and I am the best among you to my family,” does not mean that a man should be too easy going or lax with his wife, such that he allows her to wear whatever she wants to, to go wherever she wants to, and to eat whatever and however she pleases, without any regard to the principle:

وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا أَنْفَقُوا لَمْ يُسْرِفُوا وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُوا وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ قَوَامًا

“And those who, when they spend [from their wealth], do not go beyond the proper limits, nor are they too tight in their spending, but moderate instead, between those [two extremes].” [Al-Furqān, 67]

So his saying ﷺ, “The best among you are those who are best to their families,” means that he always deals with them within the limits of the Sharīʿah. So he is not severe with them to the point where the Sharīʿah does not permit severity upon them, nor is he hard-hearted and harsh with them in situations where the Sharīʿah permits—that is, allows—him to be easy going and lenient with them.

This was how Zaid ibn Thābit, may Allāh be pleased with him, was. His good character and manners reached such a level that when he sat with his people, he was the most highly respected and greatest of them, and when he sat with his family, he was the most good-humored and fun-loving of them, the closest of them to [their] hearts.

Sharḥ Kitāb Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, tape 17.