Hammād ibn Salamah reported to us; Thābit related, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥujayr, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Hudayj—who was a Companion—who said: “Whoever washes a dead person, shrouds him, follows the funeral procession, and takes charge of his burial, returns forgiven.”
This is a Companion-level report (mawqūf).
Aḥmad recorded it in his Musnad ⦗1⦘ in this very form, through ʿAffān, from him.
Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim transmitted: Harmalah ibn ʿImrān ⦗2⦘ narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Shimāsah, who said:
“I entered upon ʿĀʾishah, and she asked, ‘Where are you from?’
I replied, ‘From Egypt.’
She said, ‘How did you find Ibn Hudayj in this campaign of yours?’
I answered, ‘He is the best of commanders: whenever one of us loses a horse or a camel, he replaces it with another camel, and whenever anyone loses a servant, he provides him with another servant.’
She said, ‘Although he killed my brother, that does not keep me from relating to you what I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I heard him say: “O Allah, whoever assumes any authority over my community and is gentle with them, be gentle with him; and whoever assumes authority over them and is harsh toward them, be harsh toward him.”’ ⦗3⦘
Ibn ʿAsākir informed us, from Abū Rūḥ al-Harawī; Tamīm informed us; he said—
= Al-Bukhari, 10/129, Book of Medicine, chapter: Cupping for migraine and headache; Muslim, no. 2205 (71), Book of Greetings, chapter: For every illness there is a cure; Ahmad, 3/343, through the chain of Asim b. Umar from Jabir b. Abd Allah, who said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah …,” and so forth.
(1) 6/401–402; also transmitted by Ibn Saad, al-Tabaqat, 7/503 through the isnad of Affan. All the transmitters are reliable except Salih b. Hujayr, whom only Ibn Hibban declared trustworthy. — A corroborating report from Abu Rafi is found in al-Hakim, 1/354 and 362, and al-Bayhaqi, 3/395, marfu: “Whoever washes a Muslim and keeps secret what he observes of him will be forgiven forty times; whoever digs his grave and lays him in it will receive the reward of providing him a dwelling until the Day of Resurrection; and whoever shrouds him, Allah will clothe him on the Day of Resurrection with silk and brocade from Paradise.” Al-Hakim judged it authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, a verdict endorsed by al-Dhahabi, and it is indeed as they said. Ibn Hajar further rated the chain strong in al-Diraya, p. 140.
(2) The manuscript reads “b. Abi Imran”; the form we have adopted is correct, as shown in Tahdhib and its derivative works.
(3) Chain of transmission sound; also recorded by Muslim in his Sahih (no. 1828), Book of Governance, chapter: The virtue of the just ruler, through the routes of Jarir b. Hazim and Ibn Wahb, both from Harmala, from Abd al-Rahman b. Shumasa. It is likewise in the Musnad, 6/93.