The anger of Abdullah Ibn Masood (r.a.)

The anger of Abdullah Ibn Masood (r.a.)
We used to sit in front of Abdullah ibn
Masoud’s (r.a) house before the Fajr prayer
waiting to go with him to the Masjid. Abou
Mousa al-Ash’aarie (r.a) came and asked
us: ‘Did Abu Abdurrahman (i.e. Ibn
Masoud) leave yet?’
We answered: ‘No.’
So Abou Mousa Al-Ashaari (r.a) sat with us
waiting for him. When he came out, we all
stood up. Abou Mousa Al Ashaari (r.a) told
him:
“Oh, Abu Abdurrahman (i.e Abdullah ibn
Masood) ! I recently saw something in the
Masjid which I did not approve.”
Ibn Masoud then asked: “What was it?”
Abou Mousa said: “You will see it if you
stay alive..In the Masjid, I saw a group of
people sitting in circles waiting for the
Salat. Each circle is led by a person. And
every person in these circles carries small
stones.
The leader of a circle would say: ‘Say ‘Allah-
u Akbar’ a hundred times,’ they will say
Allah-u Akbar a hundred times; then he
says ‘Say ‘La ilaha Illa Allah’, a hundred
times” they will say La ilaha ill Allah a
hundred times; he they says: ‘Say ‘Subhan
Allah’, a hundred times, they will say
Subhana Allah a hundred times.
Then Ibn Masoud said: “What did you tell
them?”
He (Abu mousa al ashaari) said: ‘I didn’t
say anything, I wanted to wait for your
opinion.”
Abdullah ibn Masoud (angrily) said: “Could
you not order them to count their sins, and
assured them of getting their
rewards.”Then Abdulah ibn Masoud went
ahead and we accompanied him. As he
approached one of the circles, he said:
“What is this that you are doing?”
They said: “Oh! Abu Abdurrahman, these
are pebbles to count the number of times
we say Allah-u Akbar, La ilaha Ill Allah, and
Subhana Allah.”
He said: “Count your own sins, and I assure
you that you are not going to lose
anything of your rewards (Hasanat).. Woe
unto you, people of Muhammad, how fast
you will be doomed. Those are your
Prophet’s companions available, these are
his clothes not worn out yet, and his pots
are not broken yet. I swear by Whom my
soul is in His Hands that you are either
following a religion that is better than the
Prophet’s religion or you are opening a
door of aberration.”
They said: “We swear by Allah, oh, Abu
Abdurrahman, that we had no intention
other than doing good deeds.”
He said: “So what? How many people
wanted to do good deeds but never got to
do them? The Prophet of Allah has told us
about people who recited the Qur’an with
no effect on them other than the Qur’an
passing through their throats. I swear by
Allah, I am almost sure that most of you are
from that type of people.”
Then he (Ibn Masood) left them.
Amr Ibn Salamah said: “We saw most of
the people of those circles fighting us with
the Khawarij in the battle of An-
Nahrawan.”
i.e All those people who wanted to do
good deeds by innovating a practise in
Islam, were fighting against the sahabas in
the battle of nahrawan i.e. they were in the
gangs/army of the khawarijites (accursed).