One of the Prophet's companions, whom I do not suspect of any falsehood, informed me that he said, While the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Bilal were walking through al-Baqi, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Bilal, do you hear what I hear?"Bilal replied, "No, by Allah, Messenger of Allah, I do not hear it."He said, "Do you not hear the people of these graves being punished?" meaning the graves of the people of the pre-Islamic era.
أخبرني بعض من لا أتهمه من أصحاب النبي ﷺ أنه قال: بينما رسول الله ﷺ وبلال يمشيان بالبقيع، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: يا بلال هل تسمع ما أسمع؟ قال: لا والله يا رسول الله، ما أسمعه، قال: ألا تسمع أهل هذه القبور يعذبون يعني قبور الجاهلية.
Imam Ahmad (13719) narrated it from Siraj, who said, Fulayh told us, from Hilal bin Ali, from Anas bin Malik, who related it.Hakim also reported it in Mustadrak (1/40).Haythami mentioned it in Majma and said, "Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih collections."Bayhaqi said in Ithbat Azab Qabr (96), "This isnad is sahih, corroborating what came before."I say, its isnad is hasan because of Fulayh, who is Ibn Sulayman. Although he is among the narrators relied upon by the group of major hadith compilers, he is disputed. Ibn Main, Uthman Darimi, Abu Hatim, Nasai, and others declared him daif.Ibn Adi regarded him as acceptable and said, "He has sound hadiths." Daraqutni said, "They differ concerning him, but there is no harm in him." Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat.The conclusion is that his hadith is graded hasan so long as he does not report something objectionable. The mention of Baqi in this hadith is objectionable, since it did not contain graves from the pre-Islamic period.