Abū Nu'aym also mentioned in Sifat al-Jannah (Description of Paradise) (1) a report transmitted by al-Mas'ūdī, from al-Minhāl, from Abū 'Ubaydah, from 'Abd Allāh, who said:
“Hasten to the Friday prayer in this world, for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, will appear to the inhabitants of Paradise every Friday on a mound of white camphor. Their nearness to Him will correspond to their haste in attending the Friday prayer. He will bestow upon them an honor such as they had never seen before (2), and they will return to their families after He has bestowed this new favor upon them.”
Section
The Origin of the Friday Prayer
Ibn Ishāq said (3): Muhammad ibn Abī Umāmah ibn Sahl narrated to me, from his father, who said: 'Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ka'b (4) ibn Mālik narrated to me, saying: I used to guide my father when
(1) (2/227). Also transmitted by Ibn al-Mubārak in al-Zuhd (Asceticism) (2/131), Ibn Khuzayma in al-Tawhīd (Divine Oneness) (at the end of the book, in the final chapter), ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad in al-Sunnah (460, ‘Ādil Āl Hamdān edition), Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Sifat al-Jannah (Description of Paradise) (90, Dār Atlas edition), al-Tabarānī (9/238), al-Dāraqutnī in al-Ru’yah (Vision) (165, 166), and Ibn Batta in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā (The Greater Elucidation) (2593, ‘Ādil Āl Hamdān edition), all through chains transmitting this report from al-Mas‘ūdī. Even if al-Mas‘ūdī experienced ikhtilāt (confusion in his narrations), some of these chains include narrators who heard from him before that confusion. Abū ‘Ubayda did not hear from his father.
(2) The omission in the reproduction of Khā ends here.
(3) Quoted from him by Ibn Hishām (1/435). Also transmitted by Abū Dāwūd (1069), Ibn Mājah (1082), Ahmad ibn ‘Alī al-Umawī al-Marwazī in al-Jumu‘ah wa-Fadluhā (Friday Prayer and Its Merit) (1), Ibn Khuzayma (1724), Ibn al-Mundhir in al-Awsat (The Intermediate Work) (4/30), Ibn Hibbān (7013), al-Tabarānī (1/305, 19/91), al-Dāraqutnī in al-Sunan (Traditions) (1585–1587), al-Hākim (3/187), and al-Bayhaqī in al-Sunan al-Kubrā (The Major Collection of Traditions) (3/176, 177) and Dalā’il al-Nubuwwah (Proofs of Prophethood) (2/441). The hadith is hasan (good) on account of Muhammad ibn Ishāq, who explicitly stated that he heard it directly, as will appear below in al-Bayhaqī’s words.
(4) “Ibn Ka‘b” is omitted from Sād.