A bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked, "What is this pond you speak of?"He replied, "It is as vast as the distance between Bayda and Busra. Allah will supply it with horses, and no one knows from what they have been created, nor where its two ends lie."Umar bin Khattab said "Allahu Akbar" and remarked, "As for the pond, it will be approached by the poor among the Emigrants, those who fought in the path of Allah and died in the path of Allah. I hope that He will lead me to those horses so I may drink from it."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "My Lord has promised me that seventy thousand of my nation will enter Paradise without reckoning. Then each thousand will intercede for seventy thousand more. Then my Lord will scoop with both His hands three scoops."Umar said "Allahu Akbar" and said, "As for the first seventy thousand, Allah will allow them to intercede for their fathers, their sons, and their kin. I hope that Allah will place me among one of the final scoops."The bedouin asked, "Messenger of Allah, is there fruit in it?"He replied, "Yes, and in it is a tree called Tuba which matches the size of Firdaws."The man asked, "Which tree of our land does it resemble?"He answered, "It does not resemble any tree of your land. But have you been to Sham?"He said, "No, Messenger of Allah."He said, "It resembles a tree in Sham called the walnut tree. It grows on a single trunk, then its top branches out."The bedouin asked, "How large is its trunk?"He said, "If a young she-camel from your family's herd were to set off, she would not pass around it before her collarbone broke from old age."He asked, "Are there grapes in it?"He replied, "Yes."He asked, "How large is a single cluster?"He said, "A month's journey for a swift speckled crow that neither slows nor falters."He asked, "And how large is a single grape?"He said, "Has your father ever slaughtered a large billy goat from his flock?"He said, "Yes."He said, "Then he skinned its hide and gave it to your mother, saying, 'Make a water bucket from this so we may water our livestock.' Did that happen?"He said, "Yes."He said, "That single grape would be enough to feed me and my household."The Prophet ﷺ added, "And most of your kinsmen as well."
جاء أعرابي إلى رسول الله ﷺ، فقال: ما حوضك الذي تحدث عنه؟ قال: كما بين البيضاء إلى بصرى يمدني الله فيه بكراع لا يدري إنسان ممن خلق أين طرفاه. فكبر عمر بن الخطاب، فقال: أما الحوض فيرد عليه فقراء المهاجرين الذين يقاتلون في سبيل الله، ويموتون في سبيل الله. فأرجو أن يوردني الكراع فأشرب منه. وقال رسول الله ﷺ: إن ربي وعدني أن يدخل الجنة من أمتي سبعين ألفا بغير حساب، ثم يشفع كل ألف سبعين ألف، ثم يحثو ربي بيديه ثلاث حثيات. فكبر عمر وقال: إن السبعين الأولى ليشفعهم الله في آبائهم، وأبنائهم، وعشائرهم. وأرجو أن يجعلني الله في إحدى الحثيات الأواخر. فقال الأعرابي: يا رسول الله، فيها فاكهة؟ قال: نعم وفيها شجرة تدعى طوبى هي تطابق الفردوس. فقال: أي شجر أرضنا تشبه؟ قال: ليس تشبه من شجر أرضك، ولكن أتيت الشام؟ قال: لا يا رسول الله، قال: فإنها تشبه شجرة في الشام تدعى الجوزة تنبت على ساق واحد، ثم ينتشر أعلاها. قال: فما عظم أصلها؟ قال: لو ارتحلت جذعة من إبل أهلك لما قطعتها حتى تنكسر ترقوتها هرما. قال: فيها عنب؟ قال: نعم. قال: ما عظم العنقود منها؟ قال: مسيرة شهر للغراب الأبقع لا يفتر ولا يقصر. قال: فما عظم الحبة منه؟ قال: هل ذبح أبوك من عتمه تيسا عظيما؟ قال: نعم. قال: فسلخ إهابها فأعطاه أمك، فقال اتخذي لنا منه دلوا؟ فزوري به ماشيتنا. قال: نعم. قال: فإن تلك الحبة تشبعني وأهل بيتي فقال النبي ﷺ: وعامة عشيرتك.
Reported by Tabarani in al-Awsat (404), and this is his wording, and in al-Kabir (17/126–127), and Ahmad (17642) in abbreviated form, all of them through the route of Amir bin Zayd Bakali, that he heard Utba bin Abdul-Sulami, and he related it. Ibn Hibban graded it sahih (6450). Its chain is hasan. Amir bin Zayd Bakali was mentioned by Ibn Hibban in al-Thiqat (5/191), and by Ibn Abu Hatim in al-Jarh wal-Tadil without mentioning anything about him, and he is among the men of al-Tajil (505). When Husayni said, "He is not well known," Ibn Hajar responded, saying, "Rather, he is known," and spoke at length about him. The conclusion is that his hadith is hasan.Haythami mentioned it in al-Majmu (10/414) and said, "Tabarani reported it in al-Awsat, and this is his wording, and in al-Kabir, and Ahmad reported it in abbreviated form from both of them, and in it is Amir bin Zayd Bakali, whom Ibn Abu Hatim mentioned without disparaging or endorsing him, and the rest of its men are reliable."His saying, "with a khuraa" means with a portion of the water of Paradise. It says in al-Nihaya, "In the hadith of the Basin, 'Allah began with a khuraa,' meaning a portion of the water of Paradise. It was likened to the khuraa because of its small amount, and because it is like the shank of an animal."On this subject there is also what was narrated as a mursal report from Hasan, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Uthman bin Affan will intercede on the Day of Resurrection for the like of Rabia and Mudar." Reported by Tirmidhi (2439), and Ajurri in al-Sharia (818), both of them from the hadith of Jisr Abu Jafar, from Hasan, and he related it. This, along with being mursal, is daif, because he, being Ibn Farqad al-Qassab Abu Jafar, and it was also said he was Jisr bin al-Hasan al-Yamami, though his kunya was Abu Uthman, both being of the same generation and narrating from Hasan, except that the first is daif and the second is truthful. The prevailing view is that he is the first, because he is known by the kunya Abu Jafar.However, Imam Ahmad reported it in al-Zuhd (671), and Hakim (3/405), both of them through two different routes from Hasan, and he related the like of it. Hasan said, as recorded in al-Zuhd, "They used to think he was Uthman bin Affan or Uways Qarani." And in al-Mustadrak, Abu Bakr bin Ayyash said, "So I said to a man from his people, 'By what did Uways reach this?' He said, 'It is the favor of Allah, which He gives to whom He wills.'"On this subject there is also what was narrated from Harith bin Aqish as a marfu report, "Among my nation are those who will enter Paradise through their intercession in numbers greater than Mudar, and among my nation are those who will be magnified for the Fire until they become one of its corners." In it is Abdullah bin Qays al-Nakhai, who is unknown.Reported by Ibn Majah (4323) from Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba, who said, Abdul-Raheem bin Sulayman narrated to us, from Dawud bin Abu Hind, who said, Abdullah bin Qays narrated to us, who said, I was with Abu Burda one night, when Harith bin Aqish came in to see us, and Harith told us that night that the Messenger of Allah said, and he related the hadith.It was also reported by Imam Ahmad (17858), and Ibn Khuzayma in Kitab al-Tawhid (621), and Hakim in al-Mustadrak (1/71), who said, "Sahih according to the criterion of Muslim." Ibn Hajar, in al-Isaba, in the biography of Harith bin Aqish (1/273), said, "Ibn Majah reported his hadith on intercession with a sahih chain of transmission. He has another hadith about a man whose three children died. Ibn Khuzayma reported it (that is, in al-Tawhid) combined with the other hadith, and in Baghawi's version it explicitly states that he heard it from the Prophet ﷺ." That is the end of his statement.I say, in the chain is Abdullah bin Qays, and he is not among the men of Muslim, rather Ibn Majah reported from him alone. He is among those mentioned by Ibn Abu Hatim in al-Jarh wal-Tadil without mentioning either disparagement or endorsement of him, so he falls among the unknown narrators. Likewise Ibn Hajar said in al-Taqrib, "Unknown." It is transmitted in al-Tahdhib from Ali bin Madini that he considered him unknown. Dhahabi did not endorse him in al-Kashif, but was content to say, "Dawud bin Abu Hind narrated from him," meaning that he is unknown. And in al-Mizan he said, "Dawud bin Abu Hind alone narrated from him, and perhaps he is the same as the one mentioned before him," meaning Abdullah bin Qays, from Ibn Abbas, "It is not known who he is. Abu Ishaq alone narrated from him." That is the end of his statement.Bukhari reported it in Tarikh al-Kabir (2/261) through the route of Dawud bin Abu Hind with his chain, confining himself to the hadith of intercession, and said, "Its chain of transmission is not the well known one."On this subject there is also what was narrated from Ibn Umar, who said, the Prophet ﷺ says to a man, "O so-and-so, rise and intercede." So the man rises and intercedes for the tribe, and for the household, and for one man or two men, according to the measure of his deeds. Reported by Ibn Khuzayma in al-Tawhid (623) from Ishaq bin Ibrahim bin Habib bin Shaheed, who said, Yahya bin Yaman narrated to us, from Sufyan, from Adam bin Ali, from Ibn Umar, and he related it.Yahya bin Yaman al-Ajli al-Kufi is disputed. Ibn Main considered him acceptable in one report and declared him daif in another, and most scholars lean toward declaring him daif due to the weakness of his memory, to the point that Ibn Adi, after citing several of his hadiths, said, "Ibn Yaman has other narrations from Thawri besides what I have mentioned, and most of what he narrates is not preserved with accuracy, and Ibn Yaman himself does not deliberately lie, but he makes mistakes and things become confused for him."