Report of Hudhayfah ibn Usayd Abū Sarīḥah al-Ghifārī

We were informed about the ḥāfiẓ Ḍiyāʾ, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Maqdisī—may Allah have mercy on him—that he said in the treatise he compiled on the traditions concerning the Pool:

Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Iṣfahānī related it to us; al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥaddād read it out to them while I was present; he said: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allah—meaning Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī—narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Sammūyah narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; Zayd ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Maʿrūf ibn Kharrabūdh narrated to us; Abū al-Ṭufayl narrated to us, from Hudhayfah ibn Usayd—may Allah be pleased with him—who said:

When the Prophet ﷺ returned from the Farewell Pilgrimage he declared:

“O people! I shall precede you to the Pool, and you will surely arrive at a Pool whose breadth is from Busra to Ṣanʿāʾ. Upon it are vessels as numerous as the stars.”

None of the compilers of the canonical collections, not even Aḥmad, transmitted this report. (1)

Report of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān—may Allah be pleased with him

Imām Aḥmad said: Ḥasan related to us; Ibn Luhayʿah related to us; Ibn Hubayrah related to us. He heard Abū Tamīm al-Jayshānī say that Saʿīd told him he had heard Hudhayfah say:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was absent from us one day and did not come out until we thought he would not appear. When he did emerge, he performed a lengthy prostration, and we feared that his soul had been taken in it. When he raised his head he said:

“My Lord—exalted is He—consulted me about my community: what He should do with them. I replied, ‘Whatever You will, O Lord; they are Your creation and Your servants.’ He consulted me a second time, and I gave the same answer. Then He said, ‘I will never disgrace you with regard to your community, O Muḥammad,’ and He gave me glad tidings that the first to enter Paradise from my nation will be seventy thousand, and with every thousand will be another seventy thousand, none of whom will be called to account. Then He sent to me, saying, ‘Call and you will be answered; ask and you will be granted.’ I said to His messenger, ‘Will my Lord indeed give me what I ask?’ He replied, ‘He only sent me to you so that He might give you.’

“So my Lord—exalted is He—has indeed granted me, and there is no boast:

• He forgave for me what had passed of my sin and what is yet to come while I am still walking the earth alive and sound.
• He granted that my community shall never suffer hunger nor be overcome.
• He granted me al-Kawthar, a river in Paradise that flows into my Pool.
• He granted me might and victory, and that awe will precede my community for a month’s journey.
• He granted that I shall be the first of the prophets to enter Paradise.
• He made the spoils of war lawful and wholesome for me and for my community.
• He permitted us many things that had been made difficult for those before us, and He has placed upon us no hardship.”

This ḥadith possesses a sound chain of transmission and reliable text. (2)

al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it from Mubārak ibn Faḍālah, from Khālid ibn Abī al-Ṣalt, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Ribʿī, from Hudhayfah, in a marfūʿ report:

“There will be rulers who lie and act unjustly. Whoever affirms their lies and assists them in their oppression is not of me, and I am not of him (and he will not be admitted to my Pool). As for whoever does not believe them—”