until rivers of sweat flow beneath them—more fetid than carrion—while those who kept the fast will be in their gardens beneath the shade of the Throne (1).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār said: Muhammad ibn Manṣūr al-Ṭūsī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ narrated to us; al-Faḍl ibn ʿĪsā al-Raqāshī narrated to us; Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir narrated from Jābir, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Sweat will cling to a person at the standing until he says, ‘My Lord, being sent to the Fire is easier for me than what I am suffering,’ even though he knows the severity of its punishment.” Its chain is weak (2).

It is, however, firmly established in the Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Seven types of people Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade except His shade”—in another wording: “save the shade of His Throne”—“(i) a just ruler; (ii) a youth who grows up worshipping Allah; (iii) a man whose heart is attached to the mosque so that, when he leaves it, he longs to return; (iv) a man whom a woman of rank and beauty invites, yet he says, ‘I fear Allah’; (v) two men who love one another for the sake of Allah, meeting upon that and parting upon that; (vi) a man who gives charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has spent; and (vii) a man who remembers Allah in solitude and his eyes overflow with tears” (3).

Imam Aḥmad said: Ḥasan and Yaḥyā ibn Isḥāq both narrated to us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿah narrated to us; he said: Khālid (4) ibn Abī ʿImrān narrated from al-Qāsim [ibn Muḥammad], from ʿĀʾishah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: “Do you know who will be first to attain the shade of Allah—Exalted is He—on the Day of Resurrection?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Those who, when they are granted their due, accept it; when they are asked for it, they give it; and who judge for people exactly as they judge for themselves.” Aḥmad alone transmitted this report. Its chain is fair; it contains Ibn Lahīʿah, about whom criticism exists, and his shaykh is not well-known (5).

All of this takes place while mankind is halted in a station that is cramped, oppressive, and extremely difficult—except for those upon whom Allah makes it easy. We therefore beg Allah the Magnificent, Lord of the Mighty Throne, to lighten that standing for us, to make it gentle, cool, and peaceful, and we seek refuge in Allah from the constriction of the Day of Resurrection. O Allah, grant us an exit from it, and expand for us our lot in this world and the Hereafter. O Allah, place us among those You have blessed, not among those who incur Your wrath, nor among those who go astray. Āmīn.

Imam Aḥmad also said: Yazīd narrated to us; al-Aṣbagh—meaning Ibn Zayd—reported to us, from Thawr ibn Yazīd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān; Rabīʿah—meaning Ibn ʿAmr al-Jurashī al-Shāmī—narrated to me, saying: I asked ʿĀʾishah, “What did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say when he stood for the night prayer, and with what did he open the prayer?” She replied, “He would pronounce ‘Allāhu akbar’ ten times, praise Allah ten times, proclaim His oneness ten times, and seek His forgiveness ten times. Then he would say, ‘O Allah, forgive me, guide me, and provide for me’ ten times, and he would say, ‘O Allah, indeed I…’”