“… ‘And during the night keep vigil with it in extra prayer for you; it may be that your Lord will raise you to a Praiseworthy Station.’ ”

One feature of this Praiseworthy Station is the Supreme Intercession. On the Day of Resurrection people will be struck by anguish and grief beyond endurance. That awe-inspiring Day will last fifty thousand years while they stand on a single plain: the caller’s voice will reach them all and every eye will see; their bodies will be unclothed, their feet bare, their eyes transfixed, possessing no power to benefit or harm themselves. On that Day a man will flee from his brother, his mother, his father, his wife and his children.

The sun will draw so close that it is only the length of a mile above them, with no uneven ground, no rise or dip, no shade, no building—nothing. Desperate for relief, they will search for someone to intercede with Allah on their behalf. They will go to Adam, then to Noah, then to Abraham, then to Moses, then to Jesus, until at last they reach the Prophet ﷺ. He will rise and intercede, and the first and the last of creation will praise him. When those eminent prophets—Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Noah, and Adam the father of mankind—have all been unable, this noble Prophet stands and pleads with Allah; at that moment all people, past and future, extol him. That too is part of the Praiseworthy Station Allah promised him.

Al-Bukhari related this hadith up to the words “which You have promised him,” yet the additional phrase “You never break Your promise” is also authentically established. Therefore one should include it, for it is sound and it echoes the believers’ supplication: “Our Lord, grant us what You promised us through Your messengers, and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, You never break Your promise.” (Quran 3:194)