While we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on one of his journeys, we heard someone calling out, "Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest."The Prophet of Allah ﷺ said, "He is upon the natural disposition."Then the man said, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah."The Prophet of Allah ﷺ said, "He has been delivered from the Fire."We hurried toward him and found that he was a herdsman whom the time of prayer had overtaken, so he had given the call to prayer.
بينما نحن مع رسول الله ﷺ في بعض أسفاره سمعنا مناديا ينادي: الله أكبر الله أكبر فقال نبي الله ﷺ: على الفطرة فقال: أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، فقال نبي الله ﷺ: خرج من النار فابتدرناه، فإذا هو صاحب ماشية أدركته الصلاة فنادى بها.
Ahmad narrated it (3861), saying, Muhammad bin Bishr told us, Saeed (that is, Ibn Abu Aruba) told us, Qatada told us. And Abdul-Wahhab (that is, Ibn Ata Khaffaf) told us, from Ibn Abu Aruba, from Qatada, from Abu Ahwas, from Abdullah bin Masud, and he related the hadith.Its chain of transmission is sahih. Saeed bin Abu Aruba's memory became mixed up later in life, but Abdul-Wahhab and Muhammad bin Bishr heard from him before this happened. Abu Yaala (5400) and Tabarani in Al-Kabir (10062) also narrated it, both by way of Saeed bin Abu Aruba, with the same wording.Haythami said in Al-Majmu (1/334), Ahmad, Abu Yaala, and Tabarani in Al-Kabir narrated it, and the men in Ahmad's chain are the men of the sahih collections. On this subject there are also narrations from Abu Juhayfa, Abu Saeed Khudri, Muaz bin Jabal, Safwan bin Assal, and Ibn Umar, but all of them are daif.