He traced it back to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "Allah says, 'Whoever loses his two beloved ones and bears it patiently, seeking reward, I will not be content for him with any reward less than Paradise.'"
حدثنا عبد الرزاق حدثنا سفيان عن الأعمش عن ذكوان
يرفعه إلى النبي ﷺ قال يقول الله من أذهبت حبيبتيه فصبر واحتسب لم أرض له بثواب دون الجنة
Its isnad is sahih. Sufyan is Thawri. Zakwan is Abu Salih Samman. The hadith was narrated by Tirmidhi 3:286–287 from Mahmud bin Ghaylan, from Abdul-Razzaq, with this isnad, and he said, this is a hasan sahih hadith. Darimi narrated it 2:223, by way of Jareer, from Amash, likewise. Ibn Hibban narrated it in his Sahih 4:506 [from the manuscript of al-Ihsan], by way of Ismail bin Jafar, from Suhayl bin Abu Salih, from Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Allah does not take away the two beloved things of a servant, and he bears it patiently seeking reward, except that Allah admits him into Paradise."Regarding the word "Allah," this expression of majesty was not mentioned in H and M, but it is established in K and Jami al-Masanid 7:51, and its inclusion is necessary based on the indication that the context here requires it, even though in the narration of Ibn Hibban it is not a hadith qudsi.Regarding the word "his two beloved things," it appears in the dual form in K, Jami al-Masanid, and the rest of the narrations, while in H and M it appears in the singular, which is likely a scribal error by the copyists. Likewise, it is established in the dual form in the hadith of Anas as found in Bukhari 10:100, where at the end he said, "meaning his two eyes," and al-Hafiz said, he did not explicitly state who explained it this way. What is meant by "the two beloved things" are the two pupils of the eyes, because they are the most beloved of a person's body parts to him, given what befalls him upon their loss, namely the sorrow of missing the sight of what he wishes to see, whether good that would bring him joy, or evil that he would avoid.