While I was walking alongside the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he was holding my hand, with another man on his left side, when we came upon two graves in front of us.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "These two are being punished, and they are not being punished for something great. Yes indeed. Which of you will bring me a palm branch?"We raced off, and I outran him, then I brought him a palm branch. He broke it into two halves, placed one piece on this grave and one piece on that grave, and said, "It will lighten their punishment as long as the pieces remain moist. They are only being punished 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، ألقي على ذا القبر قطعة، وعلى ذا القبر، قطعة، وقال: إنه يهون عليهما ما كانا رطبتين، وما يعدبان إلا في البول والغيبة.
Ahmad (20373) narrated it from Abu Saeed, the freedman of Banu Hashim, and Bazzar (3636) narrated it by way of 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 the hadith. This is a hasan and connected chain, since Bahr bin Marrar heard from his grandfather Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakra.Qattan criticized Bahr bin Marrar, saying that he had become confused in his mind. However, Ibn Adi, after citing this hadith and other narrations of his, said, "I do not know of any objectionable hadith of his that I should mention, and I have not seen any of the early scholars who spoke about narrators declare him daif except Yahya Qattan, who mentioned that he had become confused. As for the extent of what he narrated, I have not found in it any objectionable hadith."This is the correct view, so this hadith of his is acceptable as a supporting narration. Nor is this conclusion undermined by the disagreement over his chain, meaning what Ibn Majah (349) narrated by way of Waki, and Abu Dawud Tayalisi in his Musnad (908), both of them from Aswad bin Shayban, from Bahr bin Marrar, from his grandfather Abu Bakra directly. This version contains a break in the chain, because Bahr did not hear directly from Abu Bakra. For this reason, Daraqutni in Ilal (7/156) judged the connected narration to be correct, and Abu Hatim said it is more sahih, in Ilal (1/370).