—“Where is Allah?” She pointed with her index finger toward the sky. He then asked her, “And who am I?” She pointed with her finger toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and toward the sky, meaning: “You are the Messenger of Allah.” He said, “Then set her free.” This was recorded by Imām Aḥmad and the judge al-Barqī in their respective Musnads (1).
4- Abū al-Muẓaffar Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdī (with my own reading to him) (2) informed us; the judge Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit al-Khaṭīb narrated to us; al-Qāsim ibn Jaʿfar (3) narrated to us; Abū ʿAlī al-Luʾluʾī narrated to us; Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī narrated to us; Yazīd ibn Khālid al-Ramlī told us; al-Layth ibn Saʿd told us, from Ziyādah ibn Muḥammad, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, from Fuḍālah ibn ʿUbayd, from Abū al-Dardāʾ, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “Whoever among you is suffering, or his brother is suffering, let him say: Our Lord is Allah, the One who is in the heaven; sanctified is Your name; Your command is in the heaven—”
(1) Narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta, Book of Manumission and Loyalty, vol. 2, p. 777; by Ahmad in his Musnad, vol. 3, p. 450; by Ibn Khuzaymah in Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, p. 123; and by al-Dhahabī in al-Uluww, p. 17, who commented: “This ḥadīth is ḥasan.” Shaykh al-Albānī noted that its isnād includes al-Masʿūdī—Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd al-Kūfī—and suffers from ikhtilāṭ (mixing), as it comes via Yazīd ibn Hārūn. Ibn Numayr stated that, though reliable, his later transmissions are mixed; both Ibn al-Mahdī and Yazīd ibn Hārūn related from him mixed reports. Thus, al-Dhahabī’s assertion in al-Asl that the chain is sound is incorrect (see Mukhtaṣar al-Uluww, p. 81).
I would add: even if this report were authentic, it is not the same as the previously cited hadith of Muʿāwiya ibn al-Ḥakam al-Sulamī. Such reports may nonetheless serve as acceptable corroborating evidence. The authenticity of the hadith of Muʿāwiya is clear and manifest. In all these traditions, the Prophet (peace be upon him) tests the faith of these women by asking, “Where is Allāh?” Should not those who deny divine attributes feel ashamed to oppose the Messenger (peace be upon him)? They describe Allāh only in terms that imply nonexistence rather than affirming His existence, since they deny His elevation (uluww) and establishment (istiwāʾ).
(2) Not present in the original text.
(3) In the Muḥaqqaq edition it appears as “Abū al-Qāsim,” which is erroneous; the correct name is Abū ʿUmar al-Qāsim ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Hamshī (d. 414 AH). See Tadhkirat al-Huffāẓ, vol. 3, p. 1135.