When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Muaz to Yemen, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out with him to give him final counsel. Muaz was riding while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ walked beneath his mount. When he finished, he said, "Muaz, perhaps you will not meet me again after this year of mine, or perhaps you will pass by this mosque of mine and my grave."Muaz wept out of grief at the prospect of parting from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned and faced toward Madinah and said, "The closest of people to me are the God-fearing, whoever they are and wherever they may be."In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said, "Do not weep, Muaz. Weeping, or indeed this weeping, is from Satan."
لما بعثه رسول الله ﷺ إلى اليمن خرج معه رسول الله ﷺ يوصيه ومعاذ راكب رسول الله ﷺ يمشي تحت راحلته فلما فرغ قال: يا معاذ إنك عسى أن لا تلقاني بعد عامي هذا، أو لعلك أن تمر بمسجدي هذا وقبري فبكى معاذ جشعا لفراق رسول الله ﷺ، ثم التفت فأقبل بوجهه نحو المدينة، فقال: إن أولى الناس بي المتقون من كانوا وحيث كانوا. وفي رواية: فقال النبي ﷺ: لا تبك يا معاذ، للبكاء- أو إن البكاء- من الشيطان.
Ahmad (22052, 22054), Tabarani (20/121), and Ibn Hibban (647) all narrated it through the route of Safwan bin Amr, from Rashid bin Saad, from Asim bin Humayd Sakuni, from Muaz bin Jabal, who related it.Ibn Hibban added, "O Allah, I do not permit them to corrupt what You have set right, and by Allah, they will surely overturn my nation away from its religion just as a vessel is overturned in the open valley."Its chain is hasan because of Asim bin Humayd Sakuni, for his hadith is hasan.