Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad informed us; al-Fadl ibn al-Fadl informed us; Abu Khalifah al-Fadl ibn al-Hubab informed us. ‘Abd al-Rahman—that is, Ibn al-Mubarak—said: Hammad ibn Yahya al-Abahh informed us; Thabit al-Bunani informed me, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The likeness of my community is that of rain: it is not known whether its beginning is better or its end.” (1)
Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abu Muhammad al-Makhladi informed us; Abu Nu‘aym ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Adi informed us; Muhammad ibn ‘Isa al-Tinnisi informed us; ‘Amr ibn Abi Salamah informed us; Sadaqah ibn ‘Abd Allah informed us, from Zuhayr ibn Muhammad, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Aqil, from al-Zuhri, from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ⦗67/A⦘ who said: “Paradise has been forbidden to all the prophets until I enter it, and it has been forbidden to all communities until my community enters it.” (2)
Abu Sa‘id al-Shurayhi informed us. He said: Abu Ishaq al-Tha‘labi informed us; Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad informed us; Abu al-Qasim ‘Umar ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Hatim al-Tirmidhi informed us; my maternal grandfather, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Marzuq, informed us; ‘Affan ibn Muslim informed me; ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Muslim informed me; Abu Sinan—that is, Dirar ibn Murrah—informed us, from Muharib ibn Dithar, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Buraydah, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The people of Paradise will be one hundred and twenty rows; eighty of them will be from this community.” (3)
(1) Al-Tirmidhi transmitted it in al-Adab (8:170), stating: “This is a hasan gharib hadith (a fair, uncommon report) through this route.” Ahmad transmitted it in al-Musnad, 3:130-143, on the authority of Anas, and 4:319, on the authority of Ammar. It was also transmitted by Abu al-Shaykh al-Isbahani in al-Amthal, p. 223. Ibn al-Rabi al-Shaybani stated in Tamyiz al-Tayyib min al-Khabith, p. 168: “Al-Nawawi’s statement in his Fatawa that it is weak is open to criticism.” Al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar also transmitted it from Ammar. Al-Haythami said in Majma al-Zawa'id, 10:68: “Al-Bazzar’s narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, apart from al-Hasan ibn Qaza'ah and Ubayd ibn Sulayman al-Aghar, both of whom are trustworthy.” See also Fayd al-Qadir, 5:517.
(2) Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir stated in his Tafsir, 1:397: “Al-Daraqutni transmitted it in al-Afrad, through Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqil, from al-Zuhri, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, from Umar ibn al-Khattab. ... Al-Daraqutni then said: Ibn Aqil alone transmitted it from al-Zuhri; no one else narrated it from him. Zuhayr ibn Muhammad alone narrated it from Ibn Aqil, and Amr ibn Abi Salamah alone narrated it from Zuhayr. The hadith master Abu Ahmad ibn Adi also transmitted it. ... Al-Tha'labi also transmitted it.” I say: Its chain includes Sadaqah ibn Abdullah, who is weak, as stated in al-Taqrib. As for Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Muhammad ibn Isma'il and Ishaq relied upon him, while Abu Hatim and others said that he was weak in hadith, as stated in al-Mughni by al-Dhahabi.
(3) Al-Tirmidhi transmitted it in The Book of Paradise, in the chapter “What Has Been Related Regarding the Number of Rows of the People of Paradise” (7:254), stating: “This is a hasan hadith.” Ibn Majah also transmitted it in The Book of Asceticism, in the chapter “The Description of Muhammad’s Nation,” no. 4289 (2:1434); al-Darimi in The Book of Softening the Hearts, in the chapter concerning the rows of the people of Paradise (2:337); and Ahmad in al-Musnad, 1:453, on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud, and 5:347, on the authority of Buraydah. Al-Hakim also transmitted it in al-Mustadrak, 1:82. In Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi, 7:254, it is attributed to al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba'th wa al-Nushur and to Ibn Hibban.