At a glance
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Global / Diaspora
Summary
In works of creed, the Basin is a pool to which the Prophet's community comes on the Day of Resurrection; Abu Dawud gives it a chapter in the Book of the Sunna of the Sunan, after the chapter on the creation of Paradise and the Fire and before the chapter on the questioning in the grave. 2 3 The annotator notes that Ibn al-Qayyim, in his commentary on al-Mundhiri's abridgement, listed forty Companions who related reports of the Basin. 2
Its size
Those who come to it
Zayd ibn Arqam relates that they halted with the Prophet at a stopping place and he said, "You are not one part in a hundred thousand of those who will come to me at the Basin"; they were then seven or eight hundred. 4
The Basin and al-Kawthar
Anas relates that the Prophet dozed, then raised his head smiling and said that a sura had just been revealed to him, and recited Surat al-Kawthar; then he said, "Do you know what al-Kawthar is?… It is a river my Lord promised me in Paradise, with much good in it; on it is a basin to which my community will come on the Day of Resurrection, its vessels as many as the stars." 4 In Qatada's version from Anas, when the Prophet was taken up he was shown in Paradise a river whose banks were of hollowed gemstone (yaqut), and the angel told him, "This is al-Kawthar"; al-Khattabi explains mujayyab as "hollow". 4
The account of Abu Barza
Abu Talut 'Abd al-Salam ibn Abi Hazim relates that he saw Abu Barza enter upon 'Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, who made a remark slighting the old man; Abu Barza understood and said, "I never thought I would live among people who taunt me with having been a Companion of Muhammad." 'Ubayd Allah then asked him about the Basin, and he said, "Yes — I heard him mention it not once, nor twice, nor three, four or five times; whoever denies it, may God not give him to drink from it," and went out angry. 5 The annotator notes that its chain contains an unnamed man. 3
Not covered here
Al-Khattabi does not discuss the Basin as a doctrine in this chapter; the views of the theologians and others on it are to be added from their sources.
Connections
- Mentioned in
- Al-Ibana 'an Usul al-Diyana (al-Ash'ari)
People and things also explored
The questioning and punishment of the grave· Istiwa (God's rising over the Throne)· The Qur'an as the speech of God (in the Tahawi creed)· The vision of God in the hereafter· Intercession· Al-Ash'ari composes Maqalat al-Islamiyyin and his refutations of the Mu'tazila· Mu'tazila· Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari
Sources
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 72-74
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 72
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 74
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 73
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 73-74
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The Basin (al-Hawd) of the Prophet”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-hawd-al-nabawi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.
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