We were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ in the mosque when his gaze fixed upon a man walking through the mosque.He said, "So-and-so, do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?"The man replied, "No."The Prophet asked, "Do you read the Torah?"He answered, "Yes.""And the Gospel?""Yes.""And the Quran?"He said, "By the One in whose hand is my soul, if I wished, I could recite it."Then the Prophet ﷺ adjured him, saying, "Do you find me in the Torah and the Gospel?"He said, "We find one resembling you, your community, and your appearance. We had hoped he would arise from among us. When you appeared, we feared you might be the one, but we examined the matter and found that you are not him."The Prophet asked, "Why is that?"He replied, "Because with him will be seventy thousand of his community upon whom there is no reckoning and no punishment, whereas with you there are only a few."The Prophet said, "By the One in whose hand is my soul, I am indeed that one, and this is indeed my community, and they are more than seventy thousand, and seventy thousand, and seventy thousand, and seventy thousand."
كنا قعودا مع النبي ﷺ في المسجد، فشخص بصره إلى رجل يمشي في المسجد، فقال: يا فلان، أتشهد أني رسول الله؟ قال: لا، قال: أتقرأ التوراة؟ قال: نعم، قال: والإنجيل؟ قال: نعم، قال: والقرآن؟ قال: والذي نفسي بيده لو أشاء لقرأته، قال: ثم أنشده، فقال: تجدني في التوراة والإنجيل؟ قال: نجد مثلك ومثل أمتك ومثل مخرجك، وكنا نرجو أن تكون فينا، فلما خرجت، تخوفنا أن تكون أنت، فنظرنا، فإذا ليس أنت هو، قال: ولم ذاك؟ قال: إن معه من أمته سبعين ألفا ليس عليهم حساب ولا عقاب، وإنما معك نفر يسير. قال: فوالذي نفسي بيده لأنا هو، وإنها لأمتي وإنهم لأكثر من سبعين ألفا وسبعين ألفا وسبعين ألفا، وسبعين ألفا.
No references are available.
Bazzar (3700), Ibn Hibban (6580, and the wording is his), and Tabarani in al-Kabir (18/332-333) all narrated it through various chains from Asim bin Kulayb, who said, my father narrated to me, from his maternal uncle Faltan bin Asim, and he mentioned it.Its chain is hasan because of Kulayb bin Shihab, the father of Asim, for he is hasan al-hadith. Haythami said (10/408), "Bazzar narrated it, and its men are trustworthy."