looking down upon them (1). Al-Tirmidhī (2) relates that Burayda ibn al-Husayb al-Aslamī said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“The people of Paradise will form one hundred and twenty rows: eighty from this nation and forty from all the other nations.”
Al-Tirmidhī said: This is a good hadith. In the Sahīh (3), however, Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī relates that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, in the hadith concerning those sent to the Fire:
“By Him in whose hand is my soul, I hope that you will constitute half the people of Paradise.”
He said no more than that. Thus, either we may say that this report is more authentic, or we may say that the Prophet (4)—peace and blessings be upon him—himself (5) hoped that his nation would constitute half the people of Paradise, and then his Lord, Most High, informed him that they would form eighty of the one hundred and twenty rows. There is therefore no contradiction between the two hadiths. And Allah knows best.
Among the ways in which Allah, glorified be He, favoured the Prophet’s nation and chose it is that He bestowed upon it knowledge and forbearance that He bestowed upon no other nation. In the Musnad of al-Bazzār (6) and elsewhere, it is related from Abū al-Dardā’
(1) As in the hadith of Jābir related by Ahmad (14721, 15115) and Muslim (191).
(2) No. 2546. Also related by Ibn Abī Shayba (32371), Ahmad (22940, 23002, 23061), Ibn Hibbān (7459), and al-Hākim (1:81), through Muhārib ibn Dithār, from Abd Allāh ibn Burayda, from his father. Al-Dārimī (2877) and Ibn Mājah (4289) related it through Alqama ibn Marthad, from Sulaymān ibn Burayda, from his father. However, this route is variously reported with a connected chain and in mursal form, as al-Tirmidhī noted. Al-Dāraqutnī judged the connected version correct in his Ilal (2849). Al-Tirmidhī graded the hadith hasan (good), while Ibn Hibbān, al-Hākim, and al-Diyā’ al-Maqdisī, in Sifat al-janna (p. 169), graded it sahīh (sound).
(3) Related by al-Bukhārī (4741, 6530) and Muslim (222).
(4) ن: “Indeed, the Prophet,” with the addition of inna (indeed).
(5) “Himself” is omitted in مب and ن.
(6) (10:27). Also related by Ahmad (27545), al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh al-kabīr (8:355), al-Tabarānī in al-Awsat (3252), and al-Hākim (1:347). Its chain of transmission is weak: it includes Abū Halbas Yazīd ibn Maysara, an unknown narrator. Al-Bazzār’s version has “Yūnus” instead of “Yazīd”; Yūnus is his brother and is trustworthy. For this reason, al-Bazzār and al-Hāfiz graded it hasan, the latter in al-Amālī al-mutlaqa (pp. 48–49). However, an indication that this reading is erroneous is that al-Tabarānī identified the report as uniquely transmitted by Yazīd ibn Maysara, as did Abū Nuaym in Hilyat al-awliyā’ (1:227). Al-Albānī graded the hadith weak in al-Daīfa (4038, 4991), but did not draw attention to the reading in al-Bazzār’s version. The editors of Musnad Ahmad considered this one of al-Bazzār’s errors. They then quoted al-Dāraqutnī and Abū Ahmad al-Hākim as saying that he made mistakes, and noted that al-Nasā’ī had criticized him.