Thawban fell ill in Hims, where Abdullah bin Qurt al-Azdi was the governor, but he did not visit him. A man from the Kalaiyyin came to visit Thawban, and Thawban asked him, "Can you write?"The man replied, "Yes."Thawban said, "Write." So the man wrote, "To the governor Abdullah bin Qurt, from Thawban, the freed servant of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. To proceed, if Musa or Isa had a freed servant in your presence, you would have visited him."Then he folded the letter and said to him, "Will you deliver it to him?"The man replied, "Yes."The man set off with the letter and handed it to Ibn Qurt. When he read it, he stood up alarmed, and the people said, "What is the matter? Has something happened?"He came to Thawban and entered upon him, visited him, and sat with him for a while. Then he stood up to leave, but Thawban took hold of his cloak and said, "Sit down so I may relate to you a hadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I heard him say, 'Seventy thousand of my nation shall enter Paradise without reckoning and without punishment, and with every thousand there shall be seventy thousand more.'"
مرض ثوبان بحمص، وعليها عبد الله بن قرط الأزدي، فلم يعده فدخل على ثوبان رجل من الكلاعيين عائدا. فقال له ثوبان: أ تكتب؟ فقال: نعم. فقال: اكتب فكتب للأمير عبد الله بن قرط من ثوبان مولى رسول الله ﷺ أما بعد، فإنه لو كان لموسى وعيسى مولى بحضرتك لعدته، ثم طوى الكتاب وقال له: أ تبلغه إياه؟ فقال: نعم. فانطلق الرجل بكتابه فدفعه إلى ابن قرط، فلما قرأه قام فزعا، فقال الناس: ما شأنه أحدث أمر؟ فأتى ثوبان حتى دخل عليه، فعاده وجلس عنده ساعة، ثم قام فأخذ ثوبان بردائه، وقال: اجلس حتى أحدثك حديثا سمعته من رسول الله ﷺ، سمعته يقول: ليدخلن الجنة من أمتي سبعون ألفا لا حساب عليهم ولا عذاب، مع كل ألف سبعون ألفا.
Ahmad narrated it (22418) from Abu Yaman, who said, Ismail bin Ayyash told us, from Damdam bin Zura, who said, Shurayh bin Ubayd, and then he related the hadith. Its chain is hasan because of Ismail bin Ayyash, for his hadith is hasan when he narrates from the people of his own region, the Levantines. Damdam bin Zura is from Homs, and his hadith is also hasan as long as he does not contradict others. Shurayh bin Ubayd is the man from Homs who died after the year 108 AH. Thawban, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, was also from Homs and died in the year 54 AH. If we suppose that Shurayh was seventy years old at the time of Thawban's death, then it would be possible for the two of them to have met. Mizzi mentioned in his Tahdhib his narration from Thawban, the freed slave of ﷺ, without noting that he transmitted it without a direct link.As for what Tabarani narrated in Al-Kabir (2/87–88) from Amr bin Ishaq bin Zabriq Rahbi, who said, Muhammad bin Ismail Rahbi told us, my father, that is Ismail bin Ayyash, told me, from Damdam bin Zura, from Shurayh bin Ubayd, from Abu Asma Rahbi, from Thawban, and then he related it, here he added between Shurayh and Thawban the name "Abu Asma Rahbi." This addition is defective, for Muhammad bin Ismail was criticized by Abu Dawud and others.