them a messenger, and those who were willing to obey him will do so.’”

Abū Hurayrah then said: “Read, if you wish: ‘We never punish until We have sent a messenger.’”

Abū Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī transmitted this report from Abū Hurayrah in his Quran commentary through Muhammad ibn al-A‘lā, from Muhammad ibn Thawr, from Ma‘mar; and through al-Qāsim, from al-Husayn, from Abū Sufyān, from Ma‘mar. His wording includes: “And the elderly whom Islam reached after they had become senile.”

Thus, Abū Hurayrah explained that Allah does not punish anyone until He has sent them a messenger, and that in the Hereafter He will test those whom the message did not reach in this world.

Imam Ahmad also narrated this hadith from Abū Hurayrah as a report traced back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and likewise from al-Aswad ibn Sarī‘.

Ahmad said in the Musnad: ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd Allāh narrated to us: Mu‘ādh ibn Hishām narrated to us: My father narrated to us, from Qatādah, from al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, from al-Aswad ibn Sarī‘, that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Four people on the Day of Resurrection: a deaf man who cannot hear anything, a mentally impaired man, a very elderly man, and a man who died during an interval between messengers.

“As for the deaf man, he will say: ‘My Lord, Islam came, but I could not hear anything.’

“As for the mentally impaired man, he will say: ‘My Lord, Islam came while children were pelting me with dung.’

“As for the elderly man, he will say: ‘My Lord, Islam came when I could not