ʿUbaydullāh b. al-Mughīrah b. Muʿayqib, from Sulaymān b. ʿAmr b. ʿAbd al-ʿUtuwārī.
Aḥmad said: He is Abū al-Haytham. He also said: “Layth (1)—who had been an orphan under the care of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī—related to me; he said: I heard Abū Saʿīd say (I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say):
‘The sirāt (bridge) will be laid across the breadth of Hell. Upon it are thorns like the thorns of the saʿdān plant. People will then attempt to cross it: one will pass over safely, another will be scratched by it, while yet another will be snagged and held fast upon it, then flung headlong into it.
‘When Allah has finished judging between His servants, the believers will miss certain men who were with them in the world—men who prayed as they prayed, paid zakah as they paid, fasted as they fasted, made ḥajj as they made ḥajj, and fought in battle as they fought. They will say, “Our Lord, some of Your servants were with us in the world; they prayed our prayer, paid our zakah, fasted our fast, performed our pilgrimage, and fought our battles, yet we do not see them with us.” He will say, “Go to the Fire, and whoever you find of them there, bring him out.”
‘They will find them with the Fire consuming them in proportion to their deeds: some up to their feet, others to mid-shin, others to their knees, others to their waists, others to their chests, and others to their necks—yet the flames will not have touched their faces. They will pull them out and cast them into the Water of Life.’
They asked, “Messenger of Allah, what is the Water of Life?” He replied, “It is the bathwater of the people of Paradise; by it they will grow like a young shoot.” On another occasion he said, “…just as a seedling grows in the debris carried by a flood.”
‘Then the prophets will intercede for everyone who proclaimed lā ilāha illā Allāh sincerely, and they will be brought out. After that, Allah will show tenderness with His mercy toward whoever remains in it; He will not leave therein a single servant who possesses even a mustard seed’s weight of faith without bringing him out.’
Aḥmad alone transmitted this (2). Ibn Abī al-Dunyā also recorded it through Ibn Isḥāq with the wording: “The sirāt will be set across Jahannam,” and Muḥammad said, “I know of nothing that he added except, ‘…as narrow as the edge of a sword…,’” and he mentioned the rest of the ḥadith.
Another chain: Aḥmad said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī narrated to us, from Sulaymān—meaning al-Taymī—from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
‘As for the people of the Fire who are truly its people, they will neither die nor live there. But as for a group whom Allah intends to show mercy, He will cause them to die in the Fire. Then the intercessors will enter among them, and a man will take up a ḍibārah (3) and scatter them—’ or he said, ‘they will be scattered—upon the River of Ḥayā,’ or he said, ‘…al-Ḥayāh,’ or he said, ‘…al-Ḥayawān,’ or he said, ‘…the River of Paradise—whereupon they will sprout like a seed in the silt carried by a torrent.’
He added: The Prophet ﷺ then said, ‘Do you not see how a tree is first green and later turns yellow?’