We were walking with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when we passed by two graves. He stopped, and we stopped with him. His color began to change until the sleeve of his shirt was trembling.We said, "What is the matter, Prophet of Allah?"He said, "Do you not hear what I hear?"We said, "And what is that, Prophet of Allah?"He said, "These are two men being severely punished in their graves for a minor sin."We said, "Why is that, Prophet of Allah?"He said, "One of them did not take care to keep himself clean from urine, and the other used to harm people with his tongue and walk among them spreading malicious gossip."Then he called for two fresh palm branches and placed one on each grave.We said, "Will that benefit them, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "Yes, their punishment will be lightened as long as these branches remain moist."
كنا نمشي مع رسول الله ﷺ، فمررنا على قبرين، فقام، فقمنا معه، فجعل لونه يتغير حتى رعد كم قميصه، فقلنا: مالك يا نبي الله؟ قال: ما تسمعون ما أسمع؟ قلنا: وما ذاك يا نبي الله؟ قال: هذان رجلان يعذبان في قبورهما عذابا شديدا في ذنب هين قلنا: مم ذلك يا نبي الله؟ قال: كان أحدهما لا يستنزه من البول، وكان الآخر يؤذي الناس بلسانه ويمشي بينهم بالنميمة فدعا بجريدتين من جرائد النخل، فجعل في كل قبر واحدة، قلنا: وهل ينفعهما ذلك يا رسول الله؟ قال: نعم يخفف عنهما ما داما رطبتين.
Ibn Hibban (824) narrated it, saying, Abu Arubah informed us, saying, Muhammad bin Wahb bin Abu Karima narrated to us, saying, Muhammad bin Salama narrated to us, from Abu Abdul-Rahim, who said, Zayd bin Abu Unaysa narrated to me, from Minhal bin Amr, from Abdullah bin Harith, from Abu Hurairah, and he mentioned the hadith. Its chain of transmission is sahih. Abu Arubah is Husayn bin Muhammad bin Abu Mashar Harrani, a hafiz whose biography appears in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz (2/774). Abu Abdul-Rahim is Khalid bin Yazid, also said to be Ibn Abu Yazid, the freedman of the Umayyads, Harrani, a trustworthy narrator among the men of Muslim.The hadith has another chain of transmission, narrated by Ibn Abu Shayba (3/376) and Ahmad (9686), through the route of Muhammad bin Ubayd, who said, Yazid bin Kaysan narrated to us, from Abu Hazim, from Abu Hurairah, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by a grave and stopped at it, and said, "Bring me two palm branches." He placed one of them at the head and the other at the feet. It was said to him, "O Messenger of Allah, will that benefit him?" He said, "Perhaps it will lighten some of the punishment of the grave for him as long as they remain moist."Its chain of transmission is hasan because of Yazid bin Kaysan, since there is disagreement about him, and the conclusion is that his hadith is hasan. He is among the men of Muslim. That is why Haythami said in Al-Majma (3/57), Ahmad narrated it and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.I say, there is no mention in it of the cause of the punishment, so it is possible that he is being punished because of urine, as in the previous narration, and it is possible that it was for another reason. That is why they mentioned it in the book of funerals and did not mention it in the book of purification. I will mention the rest of the hadiths on the punishment of the grave in the book of funerals.