They asked, "Messenger of Allah, what about those who died while they were still drinking wine, before the prohibition of wine was revealed?"Then the verse was revealed, "There is no blame upon those who believe and do righteous deeds for what they have eaten, so long as they fear Allah and believe and do righteous deeds" [Maidah 5:93].
قالوا يا رسول الله! أرأيت الذين ماتوا وهم يشربون الخمر، لما نزل تحريم الخمر فنزلت: {ليس على الذين امنوا وعملوا الصلحت جناح فيما طعموا اذا ما اتقوا وامنوا وعملوا الصلحت}.
Reported by Tirmidhi (3052), Ahmad (2088), Ibn Jareer (8/665), and Hakim (4/143), all of them from the hadith of Israel, from Simak, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas, who narrated it.Its chain of transmission is hasan because of what has been said about Simak bin Harb, for he used to be inconsistent in his narration from Ikrima, but here he was not inconsistent, since others agree with him.Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith."Hakim said, "This is a hadith with a sahih chain of transmission."