While I was walking alongside the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with him holding my hand and another man on his left, we came upon two graves before us. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "These two are being punished, and they are not being punished for anything major. Yes indeed. Which of you will bring me a palm branch?"We raced for it, and I outran him and brought him a palm branch. He broke it in two, placing one piece on this grave and the other piece on that grave, and he said, "Their punishment will be eased as long as these remain moist. They are being punished only for urine and backbiting."
بينما أنا أماشي رسول الله ﷺ وهو آخذ بيدي، ورجل عن يساره، فإذا نحن بقبرين أمامنا، فقال رسول الله ﷺ إنهما ليعذبان، وما يعذبان في كبير، وبلى، فأيكم يأتيني بجريدة؟ فاستبقنا، فسبقته، فأتيته، بجريدة، فكسرها نصفين، فألقى على ذا القبر قطعة، وعلى ذا القبر، قطعة، وقال: إنه يهون عليهما ما كانا رطبتين، وما يعذبان إلا في البول والغيبة.
Ahmad (20373) narrated it from Abu Saeed, the freedman of Banu Hashim, and Bazzar (3636) narrated it via Muslim bin Ibrahim, both of them, meaning Abu Saeed and Muslim bin Ibrahim, from Aswad bin Shayban, from Bahr bin Marrar, from Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakra, from Abu Bakra, and he related it.This is a hasan and connected isnad, for Bahr bin Marrar heard from his grandfather Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakra. Bahr bin Marrar has been criticized by Yahya Qattan, who said of him that his mind became confused. However, Ibn Adi, after citing this hadith and others of his narrations, said, "I do not know of any objectionable hadith of his that I could mention, and I have not seen anyone among the earlier scholars who spoke about the men declare him daif except Yahya Qattan, who mentioned that his mind had become confused. As for the amount of hadith he has, I have not seen in it any objectionable hadith."This is the correct view, so his hadith here is acceptable as corroborating evidence. Nor is this undermined by the disagreement reported about it, namely what Ibn Majah (349) narrated via Waki, and what Abu Dawud Tayalisi narrated in his Musnad (908), both of them from Aswad bin Shayban, from Bahr bin Marrar, from the grandfather of his father, Abu Bakra. This version contains a break in the chain, for Bahr did not hear from Abu Bakra. For this reason Daraqutni, in al-Ilal (7/156), judged the connected version to be correct, and Abu Hatim said, "It is more sahih." Al-Ilal (1/370).