The third volume is missing its beginning. The surviving portion starts with the heading “Dried Meat” and continues to the end of the book, comprising 244 folios. At its end, the copyist wrote: “The copying of the third volume and the preceding volumes of Provision for the Hereafter in the Guidance of the Best of Servants was completed by one in need of his Lord’s pardon, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abī Shāma al-Hanbalī—may Allah treat him with His unseen kindness—in the daytime on Tuesday, 4 Shawwāl, the blessed month, in the year 854 AH, at the school of Shaykh al-Islam Abū ‘Umar. May Allah sanctify his soul, illuminate his grave, and forgive whoever consults this work and prays for its owner, its copyist, and all Muslims.”
Comparison suggests—and Allah knows best—that this manuscript was copied from the al-Musallā manuscript (sād), since it reproduces its omissions and misreadings. Other indications support this conclusion: for example, a word crossed out in (sād) is retained by the copyist of (dāl), who failed to notice the deletion.
Although copied from (sād), it also contains numerous additional omissions and misreadings resulting from poor reading, the eye skipping from one passage to another, and other causes.
- The Rabat manuscript (bā’)
It consists of two volumes containing the entire work. The first extends from the beginning of the book to the end of the section on military campaigns and biography, and comprises (227) folios. The second extends from the beginning of the section on medicine to the end of the book, and comprises (272) folios.
Its copyist was Mahmūd ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Muhammad al-Hindī, who died in Mecca in 865 AH. He had arrived there with the caravan, performed Hajj, and stayed on there until death overtook him. He was buried in al-Ma‘lāh. Al-Sakhāwī included his biography in al-Daw’ al-Lāmi‘ (The Brilliant Light) (10/ 140).
At the end of the first volume, the copyist stated that he had copied it for himself at the al-Nāsiriyya khānqāh