Al-Bayhaqi said:
Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Hafiz narrated to us. Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ, al-Ḥasan ibn Yaʿqūb, and Ibrāhīm ibn ʿIṣmah also narrated to us, saying:
Al-Sarrī ibn Khuzaymah related to us; Abū Ghassān Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl al-Nahdī related to us; ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb related to us; Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—Abū Khālid al-Dalānī—related to us; al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr related to us from Abū ʿUbaydah, from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allah
[ibn Masʿūd], who said:
“Allah will gather mankind on the Day of Resurrection, and a caller will announce: ‘O people, are you not satisfied with your Lord, Who created you, fashioned you, and provided for you, that He should now place each of you under the authority of whatever he used to take as a patron in this world?’ ”
He continued: “So the devil of ʿUzayr will be made to appear before those who worshipped ʿUzayr, until even a tree, a piece of wood, a stone, and other such things are brought forth for those who used to worship them, while the people of Islam remain kneeling.
“They will then be asked, ‘Why have you not set off as the rest of the people have?’
“They will reply, ‘We have a Lord, yet we have not seen Him.’ ”
He said: “It will be said to them, ‘How will you recognize your Lord if you see Him?’
“They will answer, ‘There is a sign between us and Him—if we see Him we shall know Him.’
“It will be asked, ‘What is that sign?’
“They will say, ‘He will uncover His shin.’ ” [He said: “At that point He will uncover His shin,”]
He went on: “Then everyone who used to worship Him will fall down in prostration, while some people—whose backs will be as stiff as the horns of cattle—will remain; they will want to prostrate but will be unable. They will then be commanded to raise their heads, whereupon they will be given their light in proportion to their deeds.
“Some will receive light the size of a mountain in front of them; others will receive even more than that. Some will receive light like a tall palm-tree in their right hands; others will receive less than that, still in their right hands, until the last person is given light on the knuckle of his big toe: it shines once and goes out once. Whenever it shines for him he advances a step, and whenever it is extinguished he stands still.
“They will then proceed to cross the ṣirāṭ, which is as sharp as a sword and slippery, treacherous.
“It will be said to them, ‘Move across according to the measure of your light.’ Thus some will cross like the falling of a star, others like the wind, others like the blink of an eye, others like a swift man running, and others will shuffle quickly. They traverse it in keeping with their deeds until the one whose light is on his big toe comes along: a hand slips and then clings on, a foot slips and then clings on, and the sides of the bridge scorch him with fire.
“At length they emerge safely. When they have crossed, they will say, ‘Praise be to Allah Who has delivered us from you after what He allowed us to see of you. Truly Allah has given us what He has given no one else.’ ”
Masrūq said: Whenever ʿAbd Allah reached this point in the narration he would laugh. A man once said to him, “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, you have told this ḥadīth many times, and each time you reach this part you laugh—why?” ʿAbd Allah replied, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ relate it many times, and never did he reach this point without laughing until his uvula showed and the last molar in his mouth became visible—because of the man’s words, ‘Are You mocking me while You are the Lord of all creation?’ And Allah will say: ‘No, but I am able to do so.’ ”
Al-Bayhaqi said: “That is how I found it recorded in my copy.” Others have transmitted the report mentioning the last person to enter Paradise and Allah’s words to him [Most High]: “O son of Adam, would it please you that….”