English Translation

Abdullah told us: Ibrahim ibn Hamza ibn Muhammad ibn Hamza ibn Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr wrote to me: 'I have written to you this hadith, having presented it and compiled it according to what I have written to you, so relate it on my authority.' He said: Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Mughira al-Hizami told me: Abd al-Rahman ibn Ayyash al-Sam'i al-Ansari al-Qubai, of Banu Amr ibn Awf, told me, from Dalham ibn al-Aswad ibn Abdullah ibn Hajib ibn Amir ibn al-Muntafiq al-Uqayli, from his father, from his uncle Laqit ibn Amir. Dalham said: And my father al-Aswad also told it to me, from Asim ibn Laqit: that Laqit set out as a delegate to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, accompanied by a companion of his called Nahik ibn Asim ibn Malik ibn al-Muntafiq. Laqit said: My companion and I set out until we arrived before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, at the end of Rajab. We came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and reached him just as he was returning from the dawn prayer. He stood among the people to deliver a sermon and said: 'O people, I have been saving my voice for you these past four days. Listen, I shall make you hear! Is there any man whose people sent him, saying, "Find out for us what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, is saying" — for perhaps he may be distracted by his own concerns, or the concerns of his companion, or be led astray by those who go astray. I shall be asked whether I have conveyed the message. Listen, and you shall live! Sit down, sit down!' He said: So the people sat, and my companion and I stood, until, when his heart and his gaze were free for us, I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, what knowledge of the unseen do you have?' He laughed — by the life of Allah — and shook his head, knowing that I was seeking to catch him out, and said, 'Your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, has kept to Himself the keys of five matters of the unseen which none knows but Allah' — and he gestured with his hand. I said, 'And what are they?' He said, 'Knowledge of the time of death: He has known the time of death of each of you, but you do not know it. And knowledge of the sperm-drop when it is in the womb: He has known it, but you do not know. And He knows what tomorrow holds, and what you will eat tomorrow, but you do not know it. And He knows the day the rain will fall, while you look on, dejected, weary, and anxious, and then He causes it to fall while smiling with mercy, knowing that relief for you is near.' Laqit said: 'We shall never lack good from a Lord who laughs.' 'And He knows the time of the Hour.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, teach us of what you teach the people, and what you know, for we are of a people whom none of Madhhij — who look down upon us — nor Khath'am — who ally with us — nor our own tribe of which we are a part, will believe as they believe us.' He said, 'You will remain as long as you remain, then your Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, will pass away, then you will remain as long as you remain, then the Trumpet-Blast will be raised — by the life of your God, it will leave nothing alive on the face of the earth, except it dies, and likewise the angels who are with your Lord, Mighty and Majestic. Then your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, will roam over the earth, and the lands will become empty of any living being, and your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, will send down from the sky a heavy rain from beside the Throne. By the life of your God, it will leave no place of a slain man or a buried corpse on the face of the earth except that it splits open the grave over him until it reaches the place of his head, and he sits up. Then your Lord will say, "What has happened, concerning what state you were in?" He will say, "O Lord, only yesterday, or today" — because of how recently he had lived, he will think it but a short while since he was with his family.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, how will He gather us after the winds, decay, and beasts have scattered us?' He said, 'I will inform you of the like of that among the blessings of Allah: the earth — you look upon it and it is crumbling, dead soil, and you say it will never live again. Then your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sends down rain upon it, and it does not remain barren more than a few days before you look upon it as a single mass of thick plant growth. By the life of your God, He is more able to gather them from water than to gather the plants of the earth. So they will come forth from the hillocks and from their places of death, and you will look upon Him, and He will look upon you.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, how are we, filling the whole earth, while He is a single Being, looking at Him and He looking at us?' He said, 'I will inform you of the like of that among the blessings of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: the sun and the moon are a small sign of His — you see them both, and they see you, at one and the same moment, without any harm coming to you in seeing them. By the life of your God, He is more able to see you and for you to see Him than for you to see them both and them to see you, without any harm in seeing them.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, what will our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, do with us when we meet Him?' He said, 'You will be presented before Him, your features exposed to Him, no hidden thing of yours hidden from Him. Your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, will take with His hand a handful of water and sprinkle your group with it. By the life of your God, not a drop of it will miss the face of any one of you. As for the Muslim, it will leave his face like a white cloth; as for the disbeliever, it will darken it like black tar. Then your Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, will depart, and the righteous will follow in his path, crossing a bridge over the Fire; one of you will tread upon the embers and say, "Ouch!" Your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, will say, "Its time has come." Then you will come upon the Pool of the Messenger — by Allah, no thirsty camel that has ever drunk its fill compares to it, I have never seen the like of it. By the life of your God, none of you will stretch out his hand except a cup will be placed in it that purifies him from filth, urine, and impurity. And the sun and the moon will be held back, and you will not see either of them.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, then how shall we see?' He said, 'By the like of your sight at this very hour, and that will be before the rising of the sun on a day when the earth is illuminated, facing the mountains.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, how shall we be recompensed for our bad and good deeds?' He said, 'A good deed by ten times its like, and a bad deed by its like, unless He pardons it.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, is it either the Garden or the Fire?' He said, 'By the life of your God, the Fire has seven gates, no two of which are such that a rider would not travel between them for seventy years; and the Garden has eight gates, no two of which are such that a rider would not travel between them for seventy years.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, on what will we look out from within the Garden?' He said, 'Upon rivers of pure honey, and rivers of a drink that causes no headache and no regret, and rivers of milk whose taste does not change, and water that does not spoil, and fruit — by the life of your God — the like of which you do not know, and better than its like along with it, and purified spouses.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, and shall we have spouses there, or shall they be righteous women from among them?' He said, 'The righteous women are for the righteous men; you will enjoy them just as you enjoy pleasure in this world, and they will enjoy you, except that there will be no bearing of children.' Laqit said: I said, 'Tell me of what we shall attain and reach in the end' — but the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not answer him. I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, let me pledge allegiance to you.' The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then extended his hand and said, 'Upon establishing the prayer, giving the zakat, separation from the polytheist, and that you not associate any partner with Allah besides Him.' I said, 'And do we have a claim on whatever is between the East and the West?' The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, drew back his hand, thinking that I was setting a condition he would not grant me. I said, 'We shall settle wherever we wish, and no man commits a wrong except against himself.' So he extended his hand and said, 'That is yours; settle wherever you wish, and none shall wrong you but yourself.' He said: So we left him, then he said, 'By the life of your God, these two are among the most God-fearing of people in this world and the next.' Then Ka'b ibn al-Khudariyya, one of the Banu Bakr ibn Kilab, said to him, 'Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'The Banu al-Muntafiq — they are worthy of it.' He said: So we left, and I turned to him and said, 'O Messenger of Allah, was there any good for anyone of those who have passed away, in their days of ignorance?' He said: A man from the outskirts of Quraysh said, 'By Allah, your father al-Muntafiq is in the Fire.' He said: It was as if heat had struck between my skin, my face, and my flesh, from what he said about my father in front of the people. I was about to say, 'And your father, O Messenger of Allah' — but then I thought the other reply would be even more foolish. So I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, and your family?' He said, 'And my family — by the life of Allah, whenever you pass by the grave of an Amiri or a Qurashi from among the polytheists, say, "Muhammad has sent me to you, to give you news that will grieve you: you shall be dragged upon your face and belly in the Fire."' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, why has this been done to them, when they were only doing deeds they knew no better than, and thought themselves reformers?' He said, 'That is because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sent, at the end of every seven nations, a prophet; whoever disobeyed his prophet was among those astray, and whoever obeyed his prophet was among the rightly guided.'