explicit mention of the word Mahdi, and hadiths that merely tell of a caliph who will be born at the end of time and exalt the word of Islam. No report of either kind has a chain of transmission strong enough to meet Imam al-Bukhārī’s criteria for assessing reports, so he included none of them in his Sahīh. Likewise, Imam Muslim included only one such report in his Sahīh, and even that does not explicitly mention the word Mahdi.” End of quotation.

I say: Although the hadiths concerning the Mahdi do not appear in the two Sahīh collections with the detail found elsewhere, their absence from these two collections does not undermine their authenticity, since they have been established in other works. It is well known that collections other than the Sahīh works—including the Sunan collections, Musnads and hadith monographs—contain authentic, good and weak reports. Hadith scholars have accepted reports from these works, cited them as evidence and affirmed what they entail.

Works on the foundations of religion and its detailed rulings abound in authentic hadiths found outside the two Sahīh collections, which they cite as evidence. This is an appropriate occasion to mention, by way of example, some hadiths recorded in the Sunan collections, Musnads and other works that are cited as evidence in books of creed:

1- The hadith naming the ten who were given glad tidings of Paradise, may Allah be pleased with them. It appears in the Sunan collections, the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and other works, but not in the two Sahīh collections. Nevertheless, the Muslim community has accepted what it states as a matter of belief. Scarcely any work on creed, however brief, fails to name them explicitly and testify that they will be in Paradise, on the basis of the relevant hadiths recorded outside the two Sahīh collections. Other Companions were also assured of Paradise, but these are specifically known as “the ten” because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, named them together in a single hadith, saying:

“Abū Bakr will be in Paradise, ‘Umar will be in Paradise, ‘Uthmān will be in Paradise, ‘Alī will be in Paradise, Talhah will be in Paradise, al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwām will be in Paradise, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf will be in Paradise, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās will be in Paradise, Sa‘īd ibn Zayd ibn ‘Amr ibn Nufayl will be in Paradise, and Abū ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrāh will be in Paradise.”

The two Sahīh collections do contain testimony that some of them will be in Paradise, but the report naming all of them together appears only elsewhere. May Allah be pleased with them and grant them contentment, gather us in their company and keep us steadfast upon the Sunnah until we join them.

2- The hadith stating that the believer’s soul is a bird that feeds in Paradise does not appear in the two Sahīh collections. Nevertheless, people have affirmed what it states and cited it as evidence. The commentator on al-Tahāwiyyah and others have quoted it. Ibn Kathīr also cited it in his commentary on the verse:

“And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead.”

He said: “We have transmitted from the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal a hadith giving every believer the glad tidings that his soul will be in Paradise, roaming freely amid its beauty and joy and beholding the honor Allah has prepared for it. It has an authentic, distinguished and illustrious chain of transmission that brings together three of the four imams whose schools are followed. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated it from Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi‘ī