I came to Safwan bin Assal al-Muradi to ask him about wiping over leather socks.He said, "What has brought you, Zirr?"I said, "The pursuit of knowledge."He said, "The angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge, pleased with what he seeks."I said, "Something has been troubling my heart concerning wiping over leather socks after relieving oneself and urinating, and you were one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, so I have come to ask you whether you heard him mention anything about that."He said, "Yes. He used to command us, when we were on a journey or travelers, not to remove our leather socks for three days and their nights except in the case of major ritual impurity, but not for relieving oneself, urinating, or sleeping."I said, "Did you hear him mention anything about love?"He said, "Yes. We were with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey, and while we were with him an Arabi called out to him in a loud, booming voice, 'Muhammad!' The Messenger of Allah ﷺ answered him in a tone close to his own, 'Here I am.' We said to the man, 'Woe to you, lower your voice, for you are in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ, and you have been forbidden from this.'He said, 'By Allah, I will not lower it.'The Arabi said, 'A man may love a people but has not yet joined them.'The Prophet ﷺ said, 'A man will be with those he loves on the Day of Resurrection.'He kept speaking with us until he mentioned a gate on the western side, the distance of seventy years' travel, or a rider would travel across its width forty or seventy years."Sufyan said, "Toward Sham. Allah created it, on the day He created the heavens and the earth, standing open, meaning for repentance, and it will not be closed until the sun rises from it."
أتيت صفوان بن عسال المرادي أسأله المسح على الخفين فقال: ما جاء بك يا زر؟ فقلت: ابتغاء العلم، فقال: إن الملائكة تضع أجنحتها لطالب العلم رضا بما يطلب فقلت: إنه حك في صدري المسح على الخفين بعد الغائط والبول، وكنت أمرا من أصحاب النبي ﷺ، فجئت أسألك هل سمعته يذكر في ذلك شيئا؟ قال: نعم كان يأمرنا إذا كنا سفرا أو مسافرين أن لا ننزع خفافنا ثلاثة أيام ولياليهن إلا من جنابة، لكن من غائط وبول ونوم. فقلت: هل سمعته يذكر في الهوى شيئا؟ قال: نعم كنا مع النبي ﷺ في سفر، فبينا نحن عنده إذ ناداه أعرابي بصوت له جهوري يا محمد، فأجابه رسول الله ﷺ نحوا من صوته هاؤم، وقلنا له: ويحك اغضض من صوتك، فإنك عند النبي ﷺ وقد نهيت عن هذا فقال: والله لا اغضض، قال الأعرابي: المرء يحب القوم ولما يلحق بهم، قال النبي ﷺ: المرء مع من أحب يوم القيامة، فما زال يحدثنا حتى ذكر بابا من قبل المغرب مسيرة سبعين عاما عرضه أو يسير الراكب في عرضه أربعين أو سبعين عاما. قال سفيان: قبل الشام خلقه الله يوم خلق السموات والأرض مفتوحا- يعني للتوبة- لا يغلق حتى تطلع الشمس منه.
Narrated by Tirmidhi (3535) and Ahmad (18095), and Ibn Hibban (1321) graded it sahih, all of them through the hadith of Sufyan bin Uyayna, from Asim bin Abu Najud, from Zirr bin Hubaysh, who related it. Its chain is hasan because of Asim bin Abu Najud. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith."Tirmidhi (3536) also narrated it through Hammad bin Zayd, from Asim, in similar fashion, and it includes the following. Zirr said, He kept on speaking to me until he told me that Allah has placed in the Maghrib a gate whose width is a seventy-year journey, for repentance, which will not close until the sun rises from that direction. That is the meaning of Allah's saying, "On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, faith will not benefit a soul" [Anaam 6:158], to the end of the verse. Then Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith."Parts of the hadith have been narrated separately in different places, and some of it has already been mentioned earlier in the chapters on knowledge and on purification.