Someone reported that he entered upon him and found him weeping, so he asked, "What makes you weep, Abu Ubayda?"He replied, "I weep because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ one day mentioned what Allah would open up for the Muslims and grant them as spoils, until he mentioned Sham. He said, 'If your life is prolonged, Abu Ubayda, three servants will suffice you. A servant to serve you, a servant to travel with you, and a servant to serve your family and look after them. And three mounts will suffice you. A mount for your saddle, a mount for your baggage, and a mount for your servant.' Yet here I am, looking at my house filled with slaves and looking at my stable filled with mounts and horses. So how shall I meet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after this, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed us, 'The most beloved of you to me and the closest of you to me is the one who meets me in the same condition in which he parted from me.'"
حدثنا أبو المغيرة حدثنا صفوان بن عمرو حدثنا أبو حسبة مسلم بن أكيس مولى عبد الله بن عامر
ذكر من دخل عليه فوجده يبكي فقال ما يبكيك يا أبا عبيدة فقال نبكي أن رسول الله ﷺ ذكر يوما ما يفتح الله على المسلمين ويفيء عليهم حتى ذكر الشام فقال إن ينسأ في أجلك يا أبا عبيدة فحسبك من الخدم ثلاثة خادم يخدمك وخادم يسافر معك وخادم يخدم أهلك ويرد عليهم وحسبك من الدواب ثلاثة دابة لرحلك ودابة لثقلك ودابة لغلامك ثم هذا أنا أنظر إلى بيتي قد امتلأ رقيقا وأنظر إلى مربطي قد امتلأ دواب وخيلا فكيف ألقى رسول الله ﷺ بعد هذا وقد أوصانا رسول الله ﷺ إن أحبكم إلي وأقربكم مني من لقيني على مثل الحال الذي فارقني عليها
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Its chain of transmission is daif, because the narrator relating from Abu Ubayda is unidentified. Although the wording of the chain appears to be from Muslim bin Akees from Abu Ubayda, this is not to be taken at face value, because of what he says afterward, "mentioning one who came in to see him," and so on. By saying "from Abu Ubayda" he means to identify the subject of the story and the hadith, then the narration clarifies that it is actually from a man who came in to see Abu Ubayda, so the man remains unidentified and his name is not given.Abu Hasnah Muslim bin Akees Shami is given a biographical entry in al-Tajeel, page 399, where it says, "He related from Abu Ubayda bin Jarra," taking the chain at face value. But he then corrects this afterward, citing from Abu Hatim that he is unknown and that his narration from Abu Ubayda is disconnected (mursal), and that Ibn Saad placed him in the second generation, and a person of that generation could not have met Abu Ubayda. Al-Tajeel also transmits that Ibn Hibban listed him among the trustworthy narrators. Bukhari gave him an entry in al-Kabir, 4/1/254, without mentioning any criticism of him, and stated clearly that his narration from Abu Ubayda is mursal.The hadith appears in Majma al-Zawaid, 10:253, where it says, "Ahmad narrated it, and it contains an unnamed narrator, while the rest of its narrators are trustworthy."As for Abu Hasbah, Abdul-Ghani vocalized it in al-Mutalif, page 42, with a kasrah on the ha, a silent sin, and a fathah on the ba, and Dhahabi vocalized it the same way in al-Mushtabih, page 162. It likewise appears this way, without vocalization marks, in my two copies of the Musnad. In Majma al-Zawaid it appears as Abu Hasnah, with a nun, and Dulabi likewise mentions it in al-Kuna, 1:150, in the chapter on those whose kunya is Abu Hassan, Abu Hasnah, or Abu Hasnaa. This is a mistake, for Abdul-Ghani and Dhahabi are more reliable and more precise. In al-Tajeel it appears as Abu Habibah, which is undoubtedly a printing error.As for Akees, it appears in Ibn Saad as Muslim bin Kees or Kubays, vocalized in handwriting with either a fathah or a dammah on the kaf, but what is established in the Musnad and the rest of the sources we have mentioned is the correct form."Yansa fi ajalika" means "delayed," from al-nasa, which means delay.