Al-Bayhaqī (1) said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb likewise related to us; Muḥammad ibn Nuʿaym and Muḥammad ibn al-Naḍr al-Jārūdī both said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥulwānī narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Kilābī narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said:
‘The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—went to visit Umm Ayman, and I went with him. She offered him something to drink, but he was either fasting or did not wish to take it, so he declined. She then turned toward the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—laughing and joking with him.
After the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—passed away, Abū Bakr said to ʿUmar, “Come, let us go and visit Umm Ayman.” When we reached her, she burst into tears. They said to her, “Why are you crying? What is with Allah is better for His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him.” She replied, “By Allah, I am not weeping because I do not know that what is with Allah is better for His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him; I am weeping because revelation has been cut off from heaven.” Her words moved them both, and they began to weep with her.’ Muslim (3) related this report exclusively, through Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb, from ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim.
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, in his account of the Prophet’s death—peace and blessings be upon him—and Abū Bakr’s sermon on that occasion, said: ‘When Abū Bakr finished his address, the people dispersed while Umm Ayman remained seated, weeping. Someone asked her, “Why are you weeping? Allah has honored His Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—by admitting him to His Garden and relieving him of the hardship of this world.” She replied, “I am weeping for the tidings from heaven that used to come to us fresh and new every day and night; now they have ceased and been withdrawn. That is why I am weeping.” The people were astonished at her words.’
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj also said in his Ṣaḥīḥ (4): “I was informed by Abū Usāmah—and among those who transmitted this from him was Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Jawharī—Abū Usāmah narrated to us, saying: Burayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to me, from Abū Burdah, from Abū Mūsā, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said:
‘When Allah wills mercy for a nation of His servants, He takes its prophet before it, making him a forerunner and intercessor who will testify on its behalf. But when He wills the destruction of a nation, He punishes it while its prophet is still alive, destroying it before his very eyes, thereby gladdening him with its destruction when they denied him and disobeyed his command.’
Muslim transmitted this report uniquely, both in its chain and its wording.
The eminent ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār (7) said: “Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād narrated to us, from Sufyān, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib, from Zādhān, from ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Ibn Masʿūd—who reported that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
‘Indeed Allah has angels who roam the earth, conveying to me the greetings of my ummah.’
He said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—also said, ‘My life …’