Muharib bin Dithar said to me, "What did you hear Saeed bin Jubayr report from Ibn Abbas concerning al-Kawthar?"I replied, "I heard him say that Ibn Abbas said it means abundant good."Muharib said, "Glory be to Allah! How rarely does Ibn Abbas miss the mark in what he says. I heard Ibn Umar say that when 'Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar' [Kawthar 108:1] was revealed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'It is a river in Paradise whose banks are of gold, flowing over pebbles of pearl and ruby. Its drink is sweeter than honey, whiter than milk, colder than snow, and more fragrant than musk.'"He said, "Ibn Abbas spoke truly. By Allah, this is indeed the abundant good."
حدثنا مؤمل حدثنا حماد يعني ابن زيد
قال لي محارب بن دثار ما سمعت سعيد بن جبير يذكر عن ابن عباس في الكوثر فقلت سمعته يقول قال ابن عباس هذا الخير الكثير فقال محارب سبحان الله ما أقل ما يسقط لابن عباس قول سمعت ابن عمر يقول لما أنزلت إنا أعطيناك الكوثر قال رسول الله ﷺ هو نهر في الجنة حافتاه من ذهب يجري على جنادل الدر والياقوت شرابه أحلى من العسل وأشد بياضا من اللبن وأبرد من الثلج وأطيب من ريح المسك قال صدق ابن عباس هذا والله الخير الكثير
Its chain of transmission is sahih. Hammad bin Zayd, we failed to give him a biographical note earlier despite the many narrations of his that have passed. He is Hammad bin Zayd bin Dirham, a trustworthy, precise, authoritative imam. Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi said, "I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable in the sunnah, and in the hadith that falls under the sunnah, than Hammad bin Zayd." Ahmad said, "Hammad is among the leading figures of the Muslims, among the people of religion and Islam." Khalid bin Khidash said, "He was among the most intelligent and sensible of people." Yazid bin Zuray said on the day he died, "Today the master of the Muslims has died." Bukhari gave him a biographical note in al-Kabir, 24/1/2. Hammad heard from Ata bin Saaib early on, as we have mentioned repeatedly before.The hadith is lengthy, number 5355, its raised portion alone has appeared previously in abridged form, narrated by Warqa Yashkuri from Ata. We already pointed to this hadith there. Tabari related it in his Tafsir, 30:210, in a manner similar to this, slightly abridged, through Ibn Ulaya from Ata. Ibn Kathir quoted it in his Tafsir, 9:316, from this narration of Tabari.As for Ibn Abbas's interpretation here, stated as his own view, that Kawthar means abundant good, Bukhari related it from him through Saeed bin Jubayr, as found in Ibn Kathir's Tafsir, 315. Ibn Kathir then said, "This interpretation encompasses the river and other things, because Kawthar comes from abundance, meaning abundant good, and the river is one instance of that, as stated by Ibn Abbas, Ikrima, Saeed bin Jubayr, Mujahid, Muharib bin Dithar, and Hasan bin Abu Hasan Basri." He then said, "It has been established as sahih from Ibn Abbas that he also interpreted it as the river," and he quoted this from Ibn Jareer's Tafsir with his chain back to Ibn Abbas. He then presented the hadiths concerning the river of Kawthar, and said, "Indeed it has been transmitted through so many routes as to establish certainty according to many of the leading scholars of hadith, and likewise the hadiths about the Hawd." He then mentioned much of what has been reported about the Hawd.We have pointed to all of this only to disgrace those who do not believe in the unseen, who reinterpret matters relating to the Resurrection, the Raising of the dead, Paradise, and Hellfire, and then claim to be believers and attribute themselves to Islam!Regarding Muharib bin Dithar's statement, "Glory be to Allah," in H it appears as "and glory be to Allah," but there is no place for the "and" here, and it was not mentioned in K or M, so we removed it. As for his statement, "How little falls short for Ibn Abbas," in M it has "more" instead of "little," which is an error and invalid in meaning. What we have established is the correct reading found in H and K.Al-janadil is the plural of jandal, meaning a rock the size of a person's head, or as much stone as a man can lift, that is, as much as he is able to raise.