Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud al-Hudhali was among the earliest Muslims and one of the foremost companion-authorities on the Qur'an and jurisprudence. He is reported to have been the first to recite the Qur'an aloud at the Ka'ba in Mecca. Renowned for his closeness to the Prophet, he was known as "the keeper of the siwak and sandals." He emigrated to Abyssinia and then to Medina, and took part in Badr and all the major campaigns. Profound in recitation and exegesis, he was one of the four from whom the Prophet directed believers to take the Qur'an, and he laid the scholarly foundations of the Kufa school. Umar sent him to Kufa as a teacher and treasurer. Toward the end of his life he returned to Medina, fell ill, and died there a little past sixty, around 32 AH (652-653 CE). The funeral prayer was led, according to reports, by Uthman or Ammar ibn Yasir, and he was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi cemetery. His grave is today unmarked, like all graves in Baqi.