Mughira bin Shuba was in the great mosque, with the people of Kufa seated on his right and on his left. A man named Saeed bin Zayd came in, and Mughira greeted him warmly and seated him at his feet on the couch. Then a man from the people of Kufa came and stood facing Mughira, and he began cursing and cursing.Saeed asked, "Who is this man cursing, Mughira?"Mughira replied, "He is cursing Ali bin Abu Talib."Saeed said, "Mughira bin Shuba, Mughira bin Shuba, Mughira bin Shuba—must I hear the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ being cursed in your presence while you neither object nor put a stop to it? I bear witness concerning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of what my own ears heard and my heart preserved from him, for I would never narrate a lie about him that he might question me about when I meet him. He said, 'Abu Bakr is in Paradise, Umar is in Paradise, Ali is in Paradise, Uthman is in Paradise, Talha is in Paradise, Zubayr is in Paradise, Abdul-Rahman is in Paradise, and Saad bin Malik is in Paradise. And the ninth of the believers is in Paradise. If I wished, I could name him.'"The people of the mosque clamored, imploring him, "Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who is the ninth?"He said, "You have implored me by Allah, and Allah is great. I am the ninth of the believers, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is the tenth."Then he followed that with an oath, saying, "By Allah, a single occasion in which a man has dust upon his face alongside the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is better than the deeds of any one of you, even if he were given the lifespan of Nuh ."
أن المغيرة بن شعبة كان في المسجد الأكبر، وعنده أهل الكوفة عن يمينه، وعن يساره، فجاءه رجل يدعى سعيد بن زيد، فحياه المغيرة وأجلسه عند رجليه على السرير. فجاء رجل من أهل الكوفة فاستقبل المغيرة، فسب وسب، فقال: من يسب هذا يا مغيرة؟ قال: يسب علي بن أبي طالب، قال: يا مغير بن شعب، يا مغير بن شعب-ثلاثا- ألا أسمع أصحاب رسول الله ﷺ يسبون عندك؟ لا تنكر ولا تغير، فأنا أشهد على رسول الله ﷺ بما سمعت أذناي ووعاه قلبي من رسول الله ﷺ فإني لم أكن أروي عنه كذبا يسألني عنه إذا لقيته، أنه قال: أبو بكر في الجنة، وعمر في الجنة، وعلي في الجنة، وعثمان في الجنة، وطلحة في الجنة، والزبير في الجنة، وعبد الرحمن في الجنة، وسعد بن مالك في الجنة، وتاسع المؤمنين في الجنة لو شئت أن أسميه السميته، قال: فضح أهل المسجد يناشدونه يا صاحب رسول الله ﷺ من التاسع؟ قال: ناشدتموني بالله، والله عظيم أنا تاسع المؤمنين، ورسول الله ﷺ العاشر، ثم أتبع ذلك يمينا، قال: والله لمشهد شهده رجل يغبر فيه وجهه مع رسول الله ﷺ، أفضل من عمل أحدكم. ولو عمر عمر نوح عليه السلام.
Narrated by Ahmad (1629) - and this is his wording - Abu Dawud (4650), and Ibn Majah (133), all of them from the hadith of Sadaqah bin Muthanna Nakhai, who said, "My grandfather Riyah bin Harith narrated to me," then he related it. Its chain of transmission is sahih.It is reported that Ibn Abbas said, "Nuh was sent as a prophet at the age of forty, and he remained among his people for a thousand years minus fifty, calling them to Allah. He lived sixty years after the Flood, until the people multiplied and spread." This was narrated by Ibn Abu Shayba (34619), Ibn Abu Hatim in his Tafsir (9/3041), and Hakim in Al-Mustadrak (2/546), all of them through routes going back to Hammad bin Salama, from Ali bin Zayd, from Yusuf bin Mihran, from Ibn Abbas, who related it. In its chain are Ali bin Zayd bin Jadan and Yusuf bin Mihran, both of whom are daif. Moreover, it is stopped at the level of Ibn Abbas, except that Hakim narrated it as raised to the Prophet and remained silent about it.It is also reported that Mujahid said, "Ibn Umar asked me, 'How long did Nuh remain among his people?' I said, 'A thousand years minus fifty.' He said, 'Indeed, people's lifespans, minds, and characters have continued to diminish up to this very day of yours.'" This was narrated by Ibn Abu Hatim in his Tafsir (9/3041), from Ahmad bin Sinan, who said, "Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi narrated to us, from Sufyan, from Salama bin Kuhayl, from Mujahid," who related it. All of its narrators are trustworthy, and it is stopped at the level of Ibn Umar.Some scholars have held that the words of Allah Most High, "And We certainly sent Nuh to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years, then the Flood seized them while they were wrongdoers" [Ankabut 29:14], refer to the duration of his call, not to the entirety of his life before and after the call. On this view, his total age would have been more than a thousand years. Others have said that the entirety of his life, both before and after the call, was a thousand years minus fifty, in keeping with the wording of the Quran.