Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Abī Kathīr narrated to me; Ḥarām ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj, from Usāmah ibn Zayd:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once came to Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib but did not find him. He therefore asked his wife—who was from Banū al-Najjār—about him. She said, “He has just gone out, may my father and mother be ransomed for you, heading toward you. I think he missed you in one of the alleys of Banū al-Najjār. Will you not come in, O Messenger of Allah?” He entered, and she set before him some ḥays, from which he ate.

She then said, “O Messenger of Allah, may it be wholesome and pleasing for you! You have come while I was about to come to you to congratulate you and share your joy. Abū ʿUmārah has told me that you have been granted a river in Paradise called al-Kawthar.”

He replied, “Indeed—and its banks are of ruby, coral, chrysolite, and pearl.”

She said, “I would love you to describe your Pool for me in words I can hear directly from you.”

He said, “It extends from Aylah to Ṣanʿāʾ. In it are pitchers as numerous as the stars, and the most beloved of those who will drink from it are your people, O daughter of Qahd al-Anṣārī.” (1)

This ḥadīth is extremely rare. It is reported from Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then from this wife of his—may Allah be pleased with her—and through her. The narration of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Huzmuz al-Aʿraj from Usāmah ibn Zayd is disconnected, and Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī stated in his “Fawāʾid” that between the two stands al-Miswar ibn Makhramah. (2)

Transmission of Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him)

Aḥmad said: ʿAffān narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us; he said: ʿAmr ibn Murrah informed me; he said: I heard Abū Ḥamzah, who heard Zayd ibn Arqam, say:

“We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey and he halted at a camping place. I heard him say, ‘You are not even one part in a hundred thousand of those from my ummah who will come to me at the Pool.’”

I asked Zayd, “How many were you that day?”

He replied, “Seven hundred, or eight hundred.”

The same wording is transmitted by Hāshim (3) from Shuʿbah. Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī also related it from Shuʿbah. Aḥmad likewise narrated it, from Abū Muʿāwiyah from al-Aʿmash—both from ʿAmr ibn Murrah—with this chain, and Abū Dāwūd narrated it from Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar, from Shuʿbah. (4)

I say: This Abū Ḥamzah is Ṭalḥah ibn Yazīd al-Anṣārī, a Kūfan, the client of Qarazah ibn Kaʿb.

Another route from Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him)

Imām Aḥmad said: [Ismāʿīl ibn] Ibrāhīm narrated to us; Abū Ḥayyān al-Taymī narrated to us.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī—may Allah have mercy on him—said: Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; al-Ḥasan ibn Yaʿqūb al-ʿAdl narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn