The Prophet of Allah ﷺ, with Muaz bin Jabal riding behind him on the saddle, called out, "Muaz."Muaz replied, "At your service, Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure."The Prophet ﷺ called again, "Muaz."Muaz replied, "At your service, Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure."The Prophet ﷺ called once more, "Muaz."Muaz replied, "At your service, Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure."The Prophet ﷺ then said, "There is no servant who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger except that Allah forbids him to the Fire."Muaz asked, "Messenger of Allah, shall I not inform the people of this so that they may rejoice?"He replied, "Then they will rely upon it."So Muaz only disclosed it at the time of his death, fearing the sin of withholding knowledge.
أن نبي الله ﷺ -ومعاذ بن جبل رديفه على الرحل- قال: يا معاذ قال: لبيك رسول الله وسعديك. قال: يا معاذ قال: لبيك رسول الله وسعديك. قال: يا معاذ قال: لبيك رسول الله وسعديك. قال: ما من عبد يشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وأن محمدا عبده ورسوله إلا حرمه الله على النار. قال: يا رسول الله، أفلا أخبر بها الناس فيستبشروا؟ قال: إذا يتكلوا. فأخبر بها معاذ عند موته تأثما.
Bukhari narrated it in "Knowledge" (128), and Muslim in "Faith" (32), both from Ishaq bin Ibrahim, who said, "Muaz bin Hisham narrated to us," who said, "My father narrated to me, from Qatada," who said, "Anas bin Malik narrated to us," and he mentioned it.Bukhari narrated it (129) through another route from Anas, who said, "It was mentioned to me that the Prophet ﷺ said to Muaz, 'Whoever meets Allah without associating anything with Him will enter Paradise.'" He said, "Shall I not give the people the good news?" He said, "No, I fear that they would rely on that alone."This route indicates that Anas was not present at the death of Muaz in Syria when he narrated it, because he was in Madinah.Al-Hafiz says, "Anas did not name the one who mentioned that to him, in all the routes I have come across, and likewise Jabir bin Abdullah in Ahmad's version, because Muaz only narrated it at his death in Syria, and Jabir and Anas were at that time in Madinah, so they did not witness it. Amr bin Maymun al-Awdi, one of those who lived through the Prophet's era without meeting him, was present with Muaz on that occasion. Nasai narrated it through the route of Abdul-Rahman bin Samura, the well-known companion, that he too heard that from Muaz, so it is possible that the unnamed person could be identified as one of these two."See Fath al-Bari (1/227–228).I say, it is established in Sahih Muslim that Aswad bin Hilal is among those who explicitly stated that he heard it from Muaz bin Jabal, and this Aswad was one of those who lived through the Prophet's era without meeting him, from the people of Kufa, so he too is one of those who were present at the death of Muaz and heard this hadith from him.It was narrated from Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that it be proclaimed among the people, "Whoever bears witness that there is no god but Allah will enter Paradise." Umar said, "Then they will rely on that alone." He said, "Let them rely on it."Bazzar narrated it in his Musnad (174) through the route of Zaida, from Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, from Ibn Umar, from Umar, who said, and he mentioned it.Haythami said in Majma (16/1), "Abu Yaala and Bazzar narrated it, and in its chain is Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, who is daif due to poor memory."I say, it is as he said, for Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, who is the Madinan, erred in this, because he contradicted the sahih and well-established hadiths, among them the hadith of Muaz bin Jabal, who said, "Shall I not give the people the good news?" He said, "No, I fear that they would rely on that alone."