least tormented among the inhabitants of Hell (1).
The covenant that Allah, exalted is He, took from Adam and his offspring is a confirmed reality.
Intercession for the perpetrators of major sins is shared: angels will intercede, prophets will intercede, the allies of Allah and the righteous will intercede (2), and children who died young will intercede for their parents.
That very covenant—by which Allah required Adam and his progeny to worship Him alone and never associate anything with Him—is unquestionably true. In the hadith the Prophet ﷺ told us that Allah drew forth Adam’s descendants from his loins as tiny particles, made them testify to His oneness, and bound them with the pledge that they worship Him and never ascribe any partner to Him (3),
(1) Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib once said to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "What help have you given your uncle? He used to shelter you and defend you." The Prophet replied: "He is in a shallow part of the Fire; had it not been for me, he would have been in the lowest depth of the Fire." Reported by al-Bukhari, no. 3883, and Muslim, no. 209.
(2) Abu Said al-Khudri relates that the Prophet (marfu report) said: "Allah, the Exalted, will declare: ‘The angels have interceded, the prophets have interceded, and the believers have interceded, and none remains except the Most Merciful of the merciful.’ He will then take a handful from the Fire and bring out people who never performed any good at all; they will have become like charcoal. He will place them in a river at the gate of Paradise called the River of Life …" Reported by Muslim, no. 183.
(3) Ibn Abbas narrates that the Prophet said: "Allah took the covenant from the loins of Adam at Na man—meaning Arafah. He brought forth from his backbone every descendant He would create, spread them before Him, and spoke to them directly, saying: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They replied: ‘Yes, we testify,’ up to His words: ‘al-mubtilun (the falsifiers).’" Reported by Ahmad 1/272 and al-Hakim 2/544, who graded it authentic and was followed in this by al-Dhahabi. Al-Haythami states in Majma al-Zawa id 7/25: "Ahmad reported it, and its transmitters are those of the sahih." Shaykh Ahmad Shakir also declared its chain sound in his Musnad edition, no. 2455.