“You have preceded us, and we shall soon follow you.” Recorded by Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī, who remarked, “A ḥasan, gharīb hadith.”
It is also authentically reported that, eight years after the Battle of Uḥud, he went out to the martyrs and prayed over them as he would perform the funeral prayer for the deceased.
Abū Dāwūd transmits from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān — may Allah be pleased with him — that he said: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, finished burying the dead, he would stand by the grave and say, ‘Seek forgiveness for your brother and ask that he be made steadfast, for right now he is being questioned.’”
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr declared sound a report stating that the Prophet said: “No one passes by the grave of a man he knew in this world and offers him salām except that Allah restores his soul to him so that he may return the greeting.”
(1) Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, Book of Funerals, “What One Says upon Entering the Graveyard,” no. 1053 (3/369). He added: “There are also reports from Buraida and Aisha,” and concluded: “The report of Ibn Abbas is hasan gharib (sound but supported by only one chain).” Ahmad likewise records it in the Musnad through Abu Hurayra, Buraida, and Aisha. See: al-Fath al-Rabbani 8:172–176.
(2) The same wording occurs in the two Sahihs and other collections; its documentation has already been cited. See the hadith index.
(3) In manuscript D the wording reads: wa-saʾalu (“and ask”).
(4) Abu Dawud, Sunan, Book of Funerals, “Supplicating for the Deceased at the Grave,” no. 3221 (3/550); al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, Book of Funerals, “Seeking Forgiveness and Steadfastness for the Deceased at Burial,” 1:370. Al-Hakim judged it “sahih according to their criteria even though the two shaykhs did not include it,” and al-Dhahabi concurred in his Talkhis. See the marginal note, 1:370–371.
(5) Cited by al-Suyuti in al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir, who attributes it to al-Khatib (Tarikh Baghdad) and Ibn Asakir, on the authority of Abu Hurayra, 2:518, no. 7062, with the wording “No servant …,” etc. Al-Manawi notes in Fayd al-Qadir that Ibn al-Jawzi declared it weak, but that al-Hafiz al-Iraqi pointed out Ibn Abd al-Barr’s inclusion of it in al-Tamhid and al-Istidhkar with a sahih isnad from Ibn Abbas; among those who authenticated it is Abd al-Haqq (Fayd al-Qadir 5:487). Ibn Abd al-Barr also records it in al-Istidhkar 1:234.