Israʾil narrated—from Ibn Abi al-Safar, from al-Shaʿbi, from Hudhayfah—that the Prophet ﷺ said: “O Hudhayfah, Gabriel has just come to me and given me the glad tidings that al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the leaders of the youth of Paradise.” (1)
A similar wording is related from Qays ibn Abi Hazim and Zirr on the authority of Hudhayfah.
Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash reported: ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUthman ibn Khuthaym narrated to us, from Saʿid ibn Rashid, from Yaʿla ibn Murrah, who said:
Al-Hasan and al-Husayn came running toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One of them reached him before the other, so he put his hand around the boy’s neck, drew him in under his arm, kissed this one and then that one, and said, “I love them both, so love them.”
He then proclaimed, “People, a child is a cause of stinginess, cowardice, and ignorance.” (2)
Maʿmar narrated—from Ibn Khuthaym, from Muhammad ibn al-Aswad ibn Khalaf, from his father—that
It was reported from Umm Salama—may Allah be pleased with her—and likewise recorded by al-Tirmidhi (nos. 3205, 3787); by Ibn Jarir, 22/8, through the isnad of Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Isbahani → Yahya b. Ubayd → Ata b. Abi Rabah → Umar b. Abi Salama → Umm Salama; by al-Tabarani (no. 2668) through Jaʿfar al-Ahmar → Abd al-Malik b. Abi Sulayman → Ata → Umm Salama; and by al-Hakim, 3/146, through Sharik b. Abi Namr → Ata b. Yasar → Umm Salama. Similar versions are narrated from Aisha in Sahih Muslim (no. 2424, “Virtues of the Companions,” chapter: “The Virtues of the Prophet’s Household”) and from Wathila in the Musnad of Ahmad, 4/107. Ibn Hibban (no. 2245) and al-Hakim, 3/147, declared it authentic, and al-Dhahabi concurred.
(1) All its transmitters are reliable. It also appears in the Musnad, 5/392, and its documentation has already been discussed on p. 252, note 3.
(2) Saʿid b. Rashid—also known as b. Abi Rashid—was graded trustworthy only by Ibn Hibban, while the rest of the transmitters are reliable; with the supporting chains, the report is hasan. It is likewise recorded by Ahmad, 4/172; Ibn Majah (no. 3666); and al-Bayhaqi in Al-Asma wa-l-Sifat, p. 164, through the route Affan → Wuhayb → Abd Allah b. Uthman b. Khaytham → Saʿid b. Abi Rashid → Yaʿla b. Umayya, who said: “Al-Hasan and al-Husayn came running to the Prophet ﷺ; he embraced them and said, ‘A child makes one miserly and cowardly.’” Al-Busayri remarks in Az-Zawaid, fol. 247: “This isnad is sahih.” Al-Hakim, 3/164, also rated it sahih, and al-Dhahabi agreed. It is corroborated by a report in al-Bazzar (no. 1892) from Abu Saʿid—though that chain contains Atiyya al-Awfi, who is weak—by the following narration in al-Bazzar (no. 1891), whose isnad is good for corroboration, and by a third version from Aisha in al-Baghawi’s Sharh al-Sunnah, 12/35. Taken together, the hadith is strong.