1092—Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Abbas informed us. He said: Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz informed us. He said: Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us. He said: Ishaq ibn Sulayman Abu Yahya al-Razi narrated to us, from Abu Sinan.

1093—Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Abbas also informed us. He said: Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad informed us. He said: Abu al-Azhar Ahmad ibn al-Azhar narrated to us. He said: Ishaq ibn Sulayman narrated to us, from Abu Sinan, from Wahb ibn Khalid al-Himsi, from Ibn al-Daylami, who said:

I began to have misgivings concerning the divine decree, so I went to Ubayy ibn Kab and said, “O Abu al-Mundhir, I have begun to have misgivings concerning the divine decree, and I fear that this may bring ruin upon my religion or my affairs. So relate to me something about it, that perhaps Allah may benefit me thereby.”

He said, “If Allah were to punish the inhabitants of His heavens and the inhabitants of His earth, He would punish them without being unjust to them. And if He were to show them mercy, His mercy would be better for them than their deeds. Even if you possessed gold equal to Mount Uhud and spent it in the way of Allah, Allah would not accept it from you until you believe in the divine decree and know that whatever befell you could not have missed you, and whatever missed you could not have befallen you. If you die holding any belief other than this, you will enter the Fire. You should also go to my brother Abdullah ibn Masud and ask him.”

So I went to Abdullah ibn Masud and asked him, and he said the same thing. Then he said, “You should also go to Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and ask him.” So I went to Hudhayfah and asked him, and he said the same as they had said. He then said, “If you were to go to Zayd ibn Thabit ⦗677⦘ and ask him, he would say: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say:

‘If Allah were to punish the inhabitants of His heavens and the inhabitants of His earth, He would punish them without being unjust to them. And if He were to show them mercy, His mercy would be better for them than their deeds. Even if you possessed a mountain of gold equal to Mount Uhud—or the equivalent of Mount Uhud—and spent it in the way of Allah, Allah would not accept it from you until you believe in the divine decree and know that whatever befell you could not have missed you, and whatever missed you could not have befallen you. If you die holding any belief other than this, you will enter the Fire.’”

The wording is that of Abu al-Azhar’s narration. Ibn Abi Shaybah’s narration reports it as a statement of Zayd ibn Thabit through to the end of the hadith.