2053 – ʿĪsā ibn ʿAlī reported to us; he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī reported to us; he said: ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; he said: al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us; he said: Saʿīd ibn al-Muhallab related to me, saying:

Ṭalq ibn Ḥabīb told me, “I used to be the staunchest of people in denying the reality of intercession, until I met Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh. I recited to him every verse I could find that speaks of the everlasting stay of the inhabitants of the Fire. Jābir said to me, ‘O Ṭalq, do you suppose that you read the Book of Allah and know the Sunnah of His Prophet better than I do?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘The verses you cited refer to the idolaters. As for these (sinful believers), they committed a sin, were punished for it, and will then be brought out of the Fire.’ He gestured with his hand toward his ears and said, ‘May they both be deaf if I did not hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while we recite the very same Qur’an that you recite.’”