1040—‘Isa ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Isa informed us: ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Baghawi informed us: ‘Ali ibn al-Ja‘d narrated to us: Zuhayr ibn Mu‘awiyah informed us, from al-A‘mash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: I heard ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—the truthful one whose truthfulness is affirmed—related to us.

1041—And Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman informed us: ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz informed us: Muhammad ibn Ziyad ibn Farwah narrated to us: Abu Shihab al-Hannat narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from Ibn Mas‘ud: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, related to me.

1042—And ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad informed us: al-Husayn ibn Isma‘il informed us: Yusuf ibn Musa narrated to us: Jarir narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—the truthful one whose truthfulness is affirmed—related to us:

“Indeed, the creation of each one of you is gathered in his mother’s womb for forty days; then he becomes a clinging clot for a like period; then he becomes a morsel of flesh for a like period. Then the angel is sent to him. In Zuhayr’s narration, the wording is: ‘Then Allah sends the angel to him with four decrees: his provision, his deeds, his appointed term, and whether he will be wretched or blessed.’

“By Him in whose hand is my soul”—while in Abu Shihab’s narration, it is: “By Him besides whom there is no god”—“indeed, one of you may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains only a cubit between him and it. Then what had preceded for him in the Record overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it ⦗653⦘. And one of you may perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until there remains only a cubit between him and it. Then what had preceded for him in the Record overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it.”

The wording is that of Jarir’s hadith, except for what I have indicated. It was transmitted by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and all the hadith scholars, and they unanimously agreed upon its authenticity.