English Translation

Isma’il narrated to us: Ayyub narrated to us, from al-Qasim al-Shaybani, from Abd Allah ibn Abi Awfa, who said: Mu’adh came to Yemen — or he said Syria — and saw the Christians prostrating to their patriarchs and bishops, and he thought to himself that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was more deserving of being honored. When he arrived, he said, "O Messenger of Allah, I saw the Christians prostrating to their patriarchs and bishops, and I thought to myself that you are more deserving of being honored." He said, "If I were to command anyone to prostrate to another, I would command the woman to prostrate to her husband. And a woman does not fulfil the right of Allah, Mighty and Sublime, upon her fully until she fulfils the right of her husband upon her fully, even if he were to ask of her herself while she was on the back of a pack-saddle, she should give it to him." Mu’adh ibn Hisham narrated to us: my father narrated to me, from al-Qasim ibn Awf, a man of the people of Kufa, of Banu Murrah ibn Hammam, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, from his father, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal, who said: He came to Syria and saw the Christians, and he related the same meaning, except that he said: "I said, ‘Why do you do this?’ They said, ‘This was the greeting of the prophets before us.’ So I said, ‘We are more deserving of doing this for our Prophet.’" The Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "They have lied about their prophets, just as they distorted their scripture. Indeed Allah, Mighty and Sublime, has given us something better than that: the greeting of peace, the greeting of the people of Paradise."