2090 – ʿUbayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad reported to us; he said: ʿUthman ibn Ahmad reported to us; he said: Hanbal narrated; he said:
“I said to Abu ʿAbd Allah—meaning Ahmad ibn Hanbal—‘What do you say about the reports transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ concerning intercession (shafāʿa)?’
He replied, ‘These are sound hadiths; we believe in them and affirm them. Indeed, everything that is transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ through reliable chains we believe in and affirm.’
I asked him, ‘And about a people who will be brought out of the Fire?’
He said, ‘Yes. If we do not acknowledge what the Messenger has brought and we reject it, we are in effect rejecting Allah’s command. Allah Most High says, “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it.” ⦗al-Hashr 7⦘.’
I said, ‘And the intercession itself?’
He answered, ‘How many hadiths are narrated from the Prophet ﷺ about intercession and about al-ḥawḍ (the Prophet’s Basin)! Yet these people deny them and speak against them. That is the doctrine of a faction of the Kharijites, who claim that Allah Exalted is He will not bring anyone out of the Fire once He has made him enter it. Praise be to Allah who has averted from us the trial with which He has afflicted them.’