“…the whole span of this world, from the day You created him until the Day of Resurrection, and this was to be his end, he would never have experienced any good at all.”
Aḥmad alone transmitted this ḥadīth through this chain, and its soundness is subject to scrutiny; Allah knows best.
Ibn Ḥibbān said: This is the account of the question posed by the one to whom Allah spoke directly—Moses—asking his Lord, Glorified and Exalted, to teach him something by which he might remember Him. He related it as follows: Ibn Salm told us; Ḥarmlah ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us; Ibn Wahb narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me that Darrāj narrated to him, from Abū al-Haytham, from Abū Saʿīd, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
“Moses said, ‘My Lord, teach me something with which I may remember You and supplicate to You.’
He said, ‘Say, O Moses: “There is no god but Allah.”’
He replied, ‘My Lord, all Your servants say that.’
He said, ‘Say: “There is no god but Allah.”’
He said, ‘I am seeking something You would single out for me.’
He said, ‘O Moses, were the inhabitants of the seven heavens and the seven earths placed on one side of a scale, and “There is no god but Allah” on the other, “There is no god but Allah” would outweigh them.’”
The ḥadīth of the “Card” corroborates this report. Closest to its meaning as well is the ḥadīth recorded in the Sunan, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The best supplication is the supplication on the Day of ʿArafah, and the best of what I and the prophets before me have ever said is: ‘There is no god but Allah, alone, without partner. To Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He is over all things Powerful.’”
Ibn Abī Ḥātim also stated, while commenting on the verse
(1) al-Musnad (vol. 3, p. 81).
(2) Sahih Ibn Hibban (no. 6218), Kitab al-Tarikh, chapter “The Beginning of Creation.” Its isnad is weak, for Daraqutni is weak—especially in his transmission from Abu al-Haytham.
(3) In the printed edition: “Ibn Salama,” which is a slip. The correct reading is Ibn Salm—‘Abd Allah ibn Muḥammad ibn Salm al-Firyābī al-Maqdisī—who heard from Harmala ibn Yaḥyā in Egypt. Ibn Hibban transmitted from him and declared him trustworthy. He died in 309 AH. (Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala, vol. 14, p. 306.)
(4) Reported by Ahmad (al-Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 213, 221–222) from the hadith of ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with him). Ibn Mājah also includes it as no. 4300 in al-Zuhd, chapter “What One May Hope for of Allah’s Mercy on the Day of Resurrection,” and al-Tirmidhī as no. 2639 in al-Imān, chapter “What Was Related About One Who Dies While Testifying That There Is No God but Allah.”
(5) The author states this, but it merits scrutiny, for among the compilers of the Sunan only al-Tirmidhī (3585) records it in al-Da‘awāt in his Jāmi‘ via Hammad ibn Abī Ḥumayd from ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb from his father from his grandfather. Al-Tirmidhī declared Hammad weak, noting: “This is a strange hadith in this chain, and Hammad ibn Abī Ḥumayd (Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥumayd, Abū Ibrāhīm al-Anṣārī al-Madīnī) is not strong according to the hadith scholars.” Ahmad also reports it in al-Musnad (vol. 2, p. 210). Al-Haythamī surprisingly includes it in Majma‘ al-Zawā’id (vol. 3, p. 252), asserting that Ahmad transmitted it and that its narrators are all reliable. The correct view, however, is that it is mursal, as in the Muwatta’ from Talha ibn ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Karīz (no. 572, riwāya of al-Layth in D. Bashār’s edition). Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr states in al-Tamhīd (vol. 6, pp. 39–41):
“Malik severed this hadith, as noted, and I do not recall it with a continuous isnad worthy of citation. It has come with musnad chains from ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As. The report from ‘Ali relies on the dinar of Abu ‘Amr from Ibn al-Hanafiyya, which is not a reliable narrator; and the report from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr comes via ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, and no one below ‘Amr is to be relied upon. Malik’s own mursal version is more sound than those musnads.”
Note also that there are supporting testimonies: a hadith of ‘Ali recorded by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (no. 874) with the isnad of Qays ibn al-Rabī‘, suitable for corroboration; a second mursal report from Ibn ‘Umar in al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Du‘ā’ (no. 878) with a sound isnad; and a third mursal report from Talha ibn ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Karīz in Malik (vol. 1, p. 214) and via ‘Abd al-Razzaq (no. 8125), rendering it ḥasan through other chains.