in many varieties.’

“They continue saying this until it comes out. It is then taken up to heaven, and permission is sought for it to enter. It is asked, ‘Who is this?’

“The reply is, ‘So-and-so.’ They then say, ‘No welcome to the wicked soul that dwelt in a wicked body! Return blameworthy, for the gates of heaven will not be opened to you.’ It is then released between heaven and earth and returns to his grave.

“The righteous man sits in his grave, neither frightened nor distressed. Then he is asked, ‘What did you used to say about Islam?’ (1)

“He then says, ‘Who is this man?’

“He replies, ‘Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. He brought us clear proofs from Allah, so we believed and accepted the truth.’” He then related the remainder of the hadith.

The point is that Abū Hurayrah’s hadith contains the words, “It returns to his grave,” just as in the hadith of al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib. Abū Hurayrah’s hadith has been narrated through chains that corroborate the hadith of al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib. Some versions give the account found in al-Barā’s hadith in full, as al-Hākim mentioned. Moreover, the other authentic, mass-transmitted hadiths indicate that the soul returns to the body. The view that the body is questioned without the soul was held by a group of people but rejected by the majority. Likewise, Ibn Maysarah and Ibn Hazm held that the soul is questioned without the body. If that were so, however, the grave would have no special connection with the soul.

Ibn Hazm claimed that only Zādhān narrated “the return” from al-Barā’, and he declared him weak. But the matter is not as he stated: others besides Zādhān narrated it from al-Barā’, and it was also narrated from people other than al-Barā’, such as ‘Adī ibn Thābit and others. Al-Dāraqutnī collected its chains of transmission in a separate work. Moreover, Zādhān