O herald of death, and you who lie entombed in the earth—
all that clings to you are the tattered remnants of your shroud.
Leave them be, for a Day will come when a cry shall summon them;
when they rise from their slumber, sleepless dread will seize them.
They will return in a state unlike the one they left—
recreated anew, just as they were first created.
Some will emerge naked, others still in their clothes—
some garments fresh, others thread-bare and worn.
Al-Bayhaqī also transmitted the report through Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad al-Iṣbahānī, who said: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Farḍakh al-Ikhmīmī in Mecca narrated to us; al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mahdī narrated to us; Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī narrated to us; Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from Abū Ḥamzah al-Thumālī, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās … who related the story and these verses.
They found at his head a parchment that read:
O herald of death, while the dead lie within their graves—
the tatters of their sleep are all that cover them.
Leave them, for a Day is coming when a call shall awaken them,
like one jolted from his deepest sleep by a thunder-clap.
Among them will be those naked, and the dead still wrapped in their clothes—
some in new fabric, others in blue cloth now frayed and worn.
The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“By Him Who sent me with the truth, Quss certainly believed in the Resurrection.”
The basic story is well known. Although the individual chains are weak, taken together they lend support to the authenticity of the account. Abū Muḥammad Ibn Durustūyah has commented on the unusual words that occur in this ḥadīth; most are clear, God willing, and where a particularly obscure term appears we have pointed it out in the footnotes.
Al-Bayhaqī further said: Abū Saʿd Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Shuʿaythī informed us; Abū ʿAmr ibn Abī Ṭāhir al-Muḥammad Ābādī narrated to us, verbatim; Abū Lubābah Muḥammad ibn al-Mahdī al-Umūrdi narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn