from the Companions that are quite unusual, and truly astonishing reports have also been transmitted. A detailed discussion of that belongs elsewhere; this is not the place for it. Allah is the One who knows best, judges best, and is most generous.
Imām Aḥmad said:
Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq related to us; Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, from ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Zayd—who said, “My father narrated to me, from Ibn ʿUmar—who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“When the people of Paradise have entered Paradise and the people of the Fire have entered the Fire, death will be brought and made to stand between Paradise and the Fire, and then it will be slaughtered. A herald will then call out: ‘O people of Paradise! Everlasting life and no death. O people of the Fire! Everlasting life and no death.’ The people of Paradise will rejoice even more than they already do, while the people of the Fire will sink into grief on top of their grief.”
Al-Bukhārī likewise recorded it from Muʿādh ibn Asad, from ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak, with the same wording (1).
Aḥmad also said:
Ghassān ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Mawṣilī related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah related to us, from ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Death will be brought as a dusty ram (2) and placed between Paradise and the Fire. It will be announced: ‘O people of Paradise!’ and they will crane their necks and look. Then it will be announced: ‘O people of the Fire!’ and they too will crane their necks and look, thinking relief has come. Death will then be slaughtered, and it will be said: ‘Eternity, and no death.’”
This isnād is unusual through this particular route (3).
Imām Aḥmad further said:
Yazīd and Ibn Numayr both related to us; they said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“On the Day of Resurrection death will be brought and stationed upon the ṣirāṭ (the bridge over Hellfire). It will be proclaimed: ‘O people of Paradise!’ and they will look out, fearful and anxious lest they be expelled—” (Yazīd added, “lest they be expelled from the place they are in”). “Then it will be said: ‘Do you recognize this?’ They will reply, ‘Yes, our Lord, that is death.’ Then it will be said: ‘O people of the Fire!’ and they will look out, overjoyed and hopeful of being released from the place they are in. It will be said: ‘Do you recognize this?’ They will reply, ‘Yes, that is death.’ It will then be ordered that death be slaughtered upon the ṣirāṭ, and it will be said to both groups: ‘Eternity in what you now experience; no death in it ever again.’”
Its chain of transmission is sound and strong, meeting the criteria of authenticity, and no one else has recorded it through this particular route (4).
Al-Bazzār said:
Bishr ibn Ādam related to us; Nāfiʿ ibn Khālid al-Tāḥī related to us; Nūḥ ibn Qays al-Tāḥī related to us, from his brother Khālid ibn Qays, from Qatādah, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:
“On the Day of Resurrection death will be brought, placed between Paradise and the Fire, and slaughtered. It will then be proclaimed: ‘O people of Paradise, eternal life and no death; O people of the Fire, eternal life…’”