I say: Imam Aḥmad also recorded the report through al-Ḥasan, from Ibn Luhayʿah, who said, “Ḥuyayy ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Maʿāfirī narrated to me …,” and he cited it with his chain in the same wording, except that he said: “Abu Musa al-Ashʿarī asked, ‘For whom is it, O Messenger of Allah?’ …” and he mentioned the rest. Allah knows best (1).

Some narrations add that the palace will be a single pearl—its doors, door-leaves, and roof all of it (2).

Another ḥadith states that certain roofs of Paradise are pure light, sparkling like brilliant lightning; were it not that Allah steadied their sight, that light would almost snatch it away (3).

Al-Bayhaqī said: Abu al-Ḥusayn ibn Bishrān narrated to us; Abu ʿAmr ʿUthmān ibn Aḥmad, known as Ibn al-Sammāk, narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad (4) ibn Manṣūr narrated to us; my father narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin narrated to us; I heard Muḥammad ibn Wāsiʿ relate—[from al-Ḥasan]—on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to us, “Shall I inform you about the chambers of Paradise?” We replied, “Yes indeed, O Messenger of Allah—may our fathers and mothers be your ransom.” He said:

“In Paradise there are chambers made of every kind of precious stone; their exterior is visible from their interior and their interior from their exterior. They contain delights, pleasures, and honor such as no eye has seen and no ear has heard.”

I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, for whom are these chambers?” He said:

“For those who spread the greeting of peace, give food, persist in fasting, and pray at night while people are asleep.”

We said, “O Messenger of Allah, who is able to do that?” He replied:

“My ummah is able to do that. I will explain: whoever meets his brother and offers the greeting or returns it has spread peace; whoever feeds his family and dependents until they are satisfied has given food; whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and three days of every month has persisted in fasting; and whoever prays the final ʿIshāʾ prayer and the dawn prayer in congregation has prayed by night while people—the Jews, the Christians, and the Magians—are asleep.”

Al-Bayhaqī then said: This isnād is not strong, yet when combined with the two previous chains each strengthens the other. Allah knows best.

He added: It has also been transmitted with another chain from Jābir (5). He then produced it through the route of ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb, from Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar, from ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, in similar wording (6).

Al-Bayhaqī likewise reported it through the ḥadith of Jisr (7) ibn Farqad, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn,