nor corruption; and the ultimate outcome is for the God-fearing. (Q 28:83)

And He said: “Is there not in Hell a lodging for the arrogant?” (Q 39:60)

We asked, “When is your appointed time, O Messenger of Allah?”

He replied, “The term is at hand; the return is to Allah; the Lote-Tree of the Furthest Boundary, the fullest cup, and the highest couches await.”

We said, “Who will wash you, O Messenger of Allah?”

He said, “The men of my household, closest relatives first, together with many angels who will see you while you will not see them.”

We asked, “In what shall we shroud you, O Messenger of Allah?”

He said, “In these very garments of mine if you wish, or in a Yemeni cloth, or in white Egyptian linen.”

We asked, “Who will perform the funeral prayer for you, O Messenger of Allah?” Whereupon he wept and we wept with him.

He said, “Gently, may Allah forgive you and reward you well on behalf of your Prophet. When you have washed me, embalmed me, and wrapped me in the shroud, place me at the edge of my grave and then leave me for a while. The first to pray over me will be my two intimate companions who sit with me—Gabriel and Michael—followed by Israfil, then the Angel of Death, along with hosts of angels, peace be upon them. Let the men of my household begin the prayer over me, then their womenfolk, and after that enter upon me in groups, group after group, each person individually. Do not distress me with wailing, shrieking, or loud cries. Whoever of my Companions is absent, convey my greetings to him. I call you to witness that I have extended my greeting of peace to everyone who has entered Islam and to all who follow me in this religion of mine from this day until the Day of Resurrection.”

We asked, “Who will lower you into your grave, O Messenger of Allah?”

He said, “The men of my nearest household, closest relatives first, together with many angels who will see you while you will not see them.”

Al-Bayhaqī then said: “He was followed by Aḥmad ibn Yūnus on the authority of Sallām al-Ṭawīl, and Sallām al-Ṭawīl alone reports it.”

I say: He is Sallām ibn Salm (and it is also said ibn Sulaym, or ibn Sulaymān—the first is more accurate), al-Tamīmī, al-Saʿdī, known as al-Ṭawīl. He narrated from Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl, Zayd al-ʿAmmī, and others; and among those who narrated from him are Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūnus, Asad ibn Mūsā, Khalf ibn Hāshim al-Bazzār, ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, and Qabīṣah ibn ʿUqbah. ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, al-Bukhārī, Abū Ḥātim, Abū Zurʿah, al-Jawzajānī, al-Nasāʾī, and others declared him weak; some leading scholars branded him a liar, and others abandoned his narrations altogether.

Nevertheless, the ḥadīth in this very wording and at full length was transmitted by the ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār through a chain that does not pass through this Sallām. He said: “Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ahmasī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī narrated to us, from Ibn al-Aṣbahānī, who informed him from Murrah, from ʿAbd Allāh…,” and he then cited the ḥadīth in full.

Al-Bazzār added: “This report from Murrah has been transmitted through more than one route and with several isnāds…"