That other “vessel” whose contents he kept to himself concerned the tribulations (fitan), the great battles (malāḥim), and the warfare that had already taken place among people—as well as what was yet to come. Had he disclosed them before they occurred, many would have rushed to accuse him of lying and would have rejected the truths he conveyed, just as he said: “Had I told you that you would kill your own leader and fight one another with swords, you would not have believed me.” Certain factions among the people of whim and false innovation seize upon this ḥadith and attribute their own notions to that pouch, claiming that what they profess was hidden therein and never related by Abu Hurayrah. Every claimant of falsehood—though their assertions contradict one another—makes this pretense, and they all lie. If Abu Hurayrah himself did not reveal it, who after him could possibly have known it? In reality, that pouch contained some reports about forthcoming tribulations and battles, accounts that he and other Companions have already transmitted—some of which we have cited and others we shall cite later in the Book of Tribulations and Battles.

Hammad ibn Zayd said: ‘Amr ibn ʿUbayd al-Anṣārī related to us; Abu al-Zuʿayziʿah, the scribe of Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, related to us that Marwān summoned Abu Hurayrah and seated him (1) behind the couch. Marwān kept asking him questions while I wrote them down. When a full year had passed, he summoned him again and seated him behind a curtain; he began to question him about that notebook, and he neither added nor omitted, nor advanced nor delayed anything (2).

Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh and others narrated—from al-Aʿmash—from Abu Ṣāliḥ, who said: Abu Hurayrah was the most retentive of the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ Companions, though he was not the best of them (3).

Al-Rabīʿ reported that al-Shāfiʿī said: “Abu Hurayrah was the most accurate memorizer of hadith in his time” (4).

Abu al-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: Abu Khaythamah told us, al-Walīd ibn Muslim told us, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz told us, from Makḥūl, who said: People agreed one night to meet in one of Muʿāwiyah’s domed chambers. They gathered there, and Abu Hurayrah stood among them and narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until dawn broke (5).

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said: from ʿAmr (6), from Wahb ibn Munabbih, from his brother Hammām ibn Munabbih, who said: I heard Abu Hurayrah say, “No one among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ relates more hadith from him than I, except ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr. He used to write, whereas I did not write” (7).