479 – ʿUthmān  reported: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had finished burying the deceased, he would stand over the grave and say, ‘Seek forgiveness for your brother and pray that he be granted firmness, for at this very moment he is being questioned.’” Abū Dāwūd transmitted it, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic (1).

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Hadith grading:
The narration is ṣaḥīḥ (sound).
In at-Talakhīṣ it is stated that Abū Dāwūd, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bazzār all related it, and al-Bazzār added, “It is not transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ except through this chain.”
Al-Ḥākim said, “Its chain is sound,” and al-Dhahabī concurred.
Al-Nawawī remarked, “Its isnād is good.” Shaykh Ṣiddīq ibn Ḥasan said that Abū Dāwūd and al-Bayhaqī also transmitted it with a ḥasan (reliable) chain.

Glossary of terms:
– at-tathbīt: asking Allah to make the deceased steadfast when the two angels question him, by saying, “O Allah, keep him firm with the steadfast word.”
– al-ān (now): the time in which we currently find ourselves.
Al-Wāḥidī writes: “al-ān refers to the moment you are in; it marks the boundary between the past at its latest point and the future at its earliest.”
Al-Miṣbāḥ likewise states: “al-ān is an adverb denoting the present moment.”