—your Prophet ﷺ; its banks are lined with hollow pearls (1) and its vessels are as numerous as the stars.

Then al-Bukhari said: It was also reported by Zakariyya, Abu al-Ahwas, and Mutarrif, from Abu Ishaq (2).

Abu Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn said: Abu Jaʿfar al-Razi narrated to us; Ibn Abi Najih narrated to us, from Mujahid, regarding the verse, “Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar”: he said, “abundant good.”

Anas ibn Malik said: “A river in Paradise.”

ʿAʾishah said: “It is a river in Paradise; no one inserts his two fingers into his ears without hearing the gurgling of that river.”

Ibn Jarir transmitted—through Abu Kurayb, from Wakiʿ, from Abu Jaʿfar al-Razi, from Ibn Abi Najih, from ʿAʾishah—who said: “Whoever wishes to hear the sound of al-Kawthar should place his fingers in his ears.” This chain is interrupted.

Some have reported it from Ibn Abi Najih, [from Mujahid], from a man, from her.

Al-Suhayli said: Al-Daraqutni also narrated it through the route of Malik ibn Mighwal, from al-Shaʿbi, from Masruq, from ʿAʾishah, from the Prophet ﷺ (3).

The purport is: Whoever wishes to hear the murmuring of al-Kawthar—that is, something like it, resembling it, not literally the river itself—she merely likened its humming to the sound a person hears when he places his fingers in his ears. Allah knows best what she intended.

[Mention of the River al-Baydhakh in Paradise]

Imam Ahmad said: Bahz narrated to us; Sulayman ibn al-Mughira narrated to us, from Thabit, from Anas, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to delight in a good dream. Sometimes he would ask, “Has anyone among you seen a dream last night?” When a man related a dream, he would enquire about it, and if it was unobjectionable it pleased him even more.

A woman came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I dreamt that I entered Paradise. I heard a crash that made Paradise tremble. I looked and saw that so-and-so the son of so-and-so and so-and-so the son of so-and-so had been brought in”—she counted twelve men, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had sent out a detachment shortly before that—

“They were brought while wearing garments stained (4) and their jugular veins were still pouring. It was said, ‘Take them to the River al-Baydhakh’—or he said: ‘to the River al-Baydah.’ They were immersed in it, and when they emerged their faces were like the full moon on the brightest night.

“Then golden chairs were brought and they sat upon them. A large dish—or a similar word—containing a date cluster was brought, and they ate from it, and…”