many reports, yet I forget them.’
He said,

“Spread out your cloak.”

So I spread it out. Then he said,

“Gather it to yourself.”

I gathered it, and after that I never forgot a single narration. Al-Bukhari recorded this (1).

Imam Ahmad said: Sufyan related to us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Abd al-Rahman al-A‘raj, who said: I heard Abu Hurayrah say, ‘You people claim that Abu Hurayrah relates so many hadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—Allah is the One who will bring us together. The truth is that I was a destitute man who accompanied the Messenger of Allah ﷺ merely to fill my stomach, whereas the Emigrants were kept busy trading in the markets and the Helpers were occupied with tending to their property.

One day I was present in the company of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he said,

“Whoever spreads out his cloak until I finish my words and then gathers it to himself will never forget anything he hears from me.”

So I spread my mantle until he had finished speaking, then I gathered it to myself. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, I have not forgotten anything I heard from him’ (2).

Ibn Wahb also transmitted it from Yunus, from al-Zuhri, from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, from Abu Hurayrah, and it has other chains as well.

Some have said that this blessing was confined to that particular discourse, for he forgot nothing of it; the proof is that he later forgot certain narrations, as is explicitly stated in the authentic collection where he forgot the hadith “lā ‘adwā wa lā ṭiyarah” (There is no contagion and no omens) along with his hadith “lā yūridu mumridun ‘alā muṣiḥḥin” (A sick herd must not be brought near a healthy one) (3).

Others hold that it was general, applying to that discourse and to others besides; Allah knows best.

Al-Darawardi narrated—from ‘Amr ibn Abi ‘Amr, from Sa‘id al-Maqburi—that Abu Hurayrah said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, who will be the happiest of people with your intercession on the Day of Resurrection?’ He replied,

‘I expected, O Abu Hurayrah, that no one would ask me about this ḥadith before you, given your eagerness for ḥadith. The happiest of people with my intercession on the Day of Resurrection is the one who says “lā ilāha illā Allah” (There is no god but Allah), sincerely from his own heart’ (4).

Al-Bukhari also recorded it through ‘Amr ibn Abi ‘Amr (5).

Ibn Abi Dhi’b narrated—from Sa‘id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah—that he said: ‘I have preserved from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ two vessels of knowledge. One of them I have spread among the people; as for the other, if I were to spread it, this throat would be cut.’ Al-Bukhari recorded it through the narration of Ibn Abi Dhi’b (6), and more than one transmitter has related it from Abu Hurayrah.