Should I recite it to you while it has been sent down or revealed to you? He (the Holy Prophet) said: I love to hear it from someone else. So he ('Abdullah b. Mas'ud) recited to him (from the beginning of Surat al Nisa' up to the verse:" How shall then it be when We bring from every people a witness and bring you as a witness against them?" He (the Holy Prophet) wept (on listening to it). It is narrated on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud through another chain of transmitters that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ also said that he had been a witness to his people as long as (said he): I lived among them or I had been among them.
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ لِعَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ اقْرَأْ عَلَىَّ قَالَ أَقْرَأُ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَيْكَ أُنْزِلَ قَالَ إِنِّي أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَسْمَعَهُ مِنْ غَيْرِي قَالَ فَقَرَأَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَوَّلِ سُورَةِ النِّسَاءِ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ { فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِنْ كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَى هَؤُلاَءِ شَهِيدًا} فَبَكَى قَالَ مِسْعَرٌ فَحَدَّثَنِي مَعْنٌ عَنْ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ عَمْرِو بْنِ حُرَيْثٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِمْ مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ أَوْ مَا كُنْتُ فِيهِمْ شَكَّ مِسْعَرٌ