Abu Malih led us in a funeral prayer. We thought he had begun with the takbir, but he turned his face toward us and said, "Straighten your rows so that your intercession may be excellent."Abu Malih said, Abdullah, who is Ibn Salit, narrated to me from one of the Mothers of the Believers, namely Maymunah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "The Prophet ﷺ informed me, saying, 'There is no deceased person over whom a community of people prays except that their intercession is accepted on his behalf.'"I asked Abu Malih about the community, and he said, "Forty."
أخبرنا إسحق بن إبراهيم قال أنبأنا محمد بن سواء أبو الخطاب قال حدثنا
صلى بنا أبو المليح على جنازة فظننا أنه قد كبر فأقبل علينا بوجهه فقال أقيموا صفوفكم ولتحسن شفاعتكم قال أبو المليح حدثني عبد الله وهو ابن سليط عن إحدى أمهات المؤمنين وهي ميمونة زوج النبي ﷺ قالت أخبرني النبي ﷺ قال ما من ميت يصلي عليه أمة من الناس إلا شفعوا فيه فسألت أبا المليح عن الأمة فقال أربعون
Its chain is hasan. Ahmad narrated it (6/331, 334) from the hadith of Abu Bakkar, with a slight variation, and it is also in Kubra, hadith no. 2120.Ibn Sulayt was narrated from by two people, and Ibn Hayan authenticated him. Some scholars listed him among the companions, so his hadith does not fall below the level of hasan. This hadith has corroborating narrations.