[The report of Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah]
Al-Bayhaqī said: “Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣaffār narrated to us; Jaʿfar ibn Abī ʿAmmār al-Ṭiyālisī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Bakkār narrated to us; ʿAnbasah ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid narrated to us, from Wāṣil, the freedman of Abū ʿUyainah, from [Umayy] Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (1), from al-Shaʿbī, from Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah, who said:
I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, intercession! intercession!’
He replied:
‘My intercession is for the people of the major sins from among my community.’ (2)
[The report of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him)]
Imām Aḥmad said: “Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq al-Ṭāliqānī narrated to us; al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl al-Māzinī narrated to me; Abū Naʿāmah narrated to us; Abū Hunaydah al-Barāʾ ibn Nawfal narrated to us, from Walān al-ʿAdawī, from Ḥudhayfah, from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:
One morning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose, performed the dawn prayer, and then remained seated until the forenoon, when he laughed. He stayed in that same place until he performed the first prayer (Ẓuhr), then the ʿAṣr and the Maghrib, all the while uttering not a single word, until he performed the final night prayer (ʿIshāʾ). He then stood and went in to his family.
The people said to Abū Bakr, ‘Will you not ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? Today he has done something he has never done before.’ Abū Bakr asked him, and the Prophet replied:
‘Yes. What will take place of the affairs of this world and the Hereafter was displayed before me. All the first and the last will be gathered on one plain, and the people will be stricken with terror, so they will go to Adam while the sweat is almost drowning them.
‘They will say, “O Adam, you are the father of mankind; Allah chose you, so intercede for us with your Lord.”
‘Adam will reply, “I am experiencing what you are experiencing. Go to your forefather after your father—go to Noah,” as in His words: ‘Indeed, Allah chose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of ʿImrān over all peoples’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:33).
‘They will go to Noah (peace be upon him) and say, “Intercede for us with your Lord; Allah chose you and answered your supplication, and you left not upon the earth a single dwelling of the disbelievers.”
‘He will reply, “That is not for me. Go to Abraham, for Allah took him as an intimate friend.” So they will go to Abraham,
‘Who will say, “That is not for me; rather, go to Moses, for Allah spoke to him directly.”
‘Moses will say, “That is not for me; rather, go to Jesus son of Mary, for he healed the blind and the leper and brought the dead to life.”
‘Jesus will say, “That is not for me; rather, go to the Master of the children of Adam, for he will be the first for whom the earth will split open on the Day of Resurrection. Go to Muḥammad ﷺ, and he will intercede for you with your Lord.”
‘So they will go, and Gabriel will come to his Lord, and Allah—Exalted is He—will say, “Grant him permission and give him the glad tidings of Paradise.”
‘Gabriel will take him, and he will fall in prostration for the span of a Friday. Allah—Exalted is He—will say, “Raise your head, speak and you will be heard, intercede and your intercession will be granted.”’
He continued: ‘He will raise his head, and when he looks upon his Lord—Exalted is He—’