Imam Ahmad also related: ‘Affān narrated to us; al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us. He said: al-Ḥasan said: ʿĀʾishah said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me about the words of the Exalted: ‘On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens’—where will people be that day?” He replied, “This is something none of my community has ever asked me about before you: the people will be upon the sirāt (the bridge).” Ahmad alone transmitted this report.

Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā likewise recorded it: ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us; I heard al-Ḥasan say, “ʿĀʾishah said …,” and he mentioned the rest. Qatādah also reported it from Ḥassān ibn Bilāl al-Muzanī, from ʿĀʾishah, with exactly the same wording (1).

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā further said: ʿUbayd ibn Jarīr al-ʿAtakī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Bakkār al-Ṣayrafī narrated to us; al-Faḍl ibn Maʿrūf al-Quṭaʿī narrated to us; Bishr ibn Ḥarb narrated to us, from Abū Saʿīd, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “While the Prophet ﷺ had his head in my lap, I began to weep. He lifted his head and asked, ‘What makes you cry?’ I replied, ‘May my father and mother be ransomed for you! I was reflecting on Allah’s saying—exalted is He—: ‘On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens, and they will appear before Allah, the One, the Overwhelming.’ Where will the people be that day?’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘On that day the people will be on the bridge over Hell. The angels will be standing, saying, “Lord, grant safety, grant safety,” while some slip and others stagger.’ This chain is unique; neither Ahmad nor any of the authors of the Six Books recorded it (2).

Imam Ahmad also said: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated to us, from Dāwūd, from al-Shaʿbī, from Masrūq, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “I was the first person to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse: ‘On the Day when the earth is replaced by another earth and the heavens, and they will appear before Allah, the One, the Overwhelming.’ I asked, ‘Where will the people be that day, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘On the sirāt (the bridge).’” Muslim included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ, as did al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah through the narration of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind. Al-Tirmidhī said: “Ḥasan, ṣaḥīḥ.” Ahmad likewise transmitted it from ʿAffān, from Wuhaib, from Dāwūd, from al-Shaʿbī, from her, but without mentioning Masrūq (3).

Ahmad also narrated—through Ḥabīb ibn Abī ʿAmrah, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās—from ʿĀʾishah that she asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this verse and then said, “Where will the people be that day, O Messenger of Allah?” He answered, “They will be on the surface of Hell.” (4).