Bayan Al-Hadith › Sahih Muslim › The Book of Commentary on the Qur'an
Sahih Muslim 3030aصحيح مسلم 3030a
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ أَبِي مَعْمَرٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، فِي قَوْلِهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ { أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ} قَالَ كَانَ نَفَرٌ مِنَ الْجِنِّ أَسْلَمُوا وَكَانُوا يُعْبَدُونَ فَبَقِيَ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يَعْبُدُونَ عَلَى عِبَادَتِهِمْ وَقَدْ أَسْلَمَ النَّفَرُ مِنَ الْجِنِّ .
Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported in connection with the words of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious: " Those to whom they call upon, themselves seek the means or access to their Lord as to whoever of them becomes nearest" (xvii. 57) that it related to a party of Jinn who were being worshipped and they embraced Islam but those who worshipped them kept on worshipping them (though the Jinn whom the misguided people worshipped had become Muslims). It was then that this verse was revealed.
Grading
Sahih (authentic by the consensus of hadith scholars)
Chain of narrators
عبد الله بن محمد ← عبد الله بن إدريس ← سليمان بن مهران ← إبراهيم بن يزيد بن قيس ← عبد الله بن سخبرة ← عبد الله بن مسعود
Abdullah ibn Muhammad → Abdullah ibn Idris → Sulayman ibn Mihran → Ibrahim ibn Yazid ibn Qays → Abdullah ibn Sakhbara → `Abdullah