Shuʿbah also corroborated both of them, saying: “I heard Abū Isḥāq relate from Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, with the wording: ‘Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was taught the openings, comprehensive expressions, and conclusions of goodness. He said: When you sit after every two units of prayer, say: All greetings are due to Allah … Then let each of you choose whichever supplication he most prefers and supplicate his Lord, the Blessed and Exalted.’” Aḥmad narrated it (1/437).

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting Muslim’s criteria, for Shuʿbah heard from Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī before the latter’s memory became impaired. The first part of it has another corroborating report, previously mentioned under hadith 1472, through Ibn Lahīʿah’s narration, with his chain from Ibn ʿAmr, attributed to the Prophet. Refer to it.

1484 — “I have been granted seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without reckoning. Their faces will be like the moon on the night of the full moon, and their hearts will be as the heart of one man. I asked my Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, for more, so He granted me an additional seventy thousand with every one.”

Aḥmad narrated it (1/6) through al-Masʿūdī, who said: Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas related to me from a man, from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this. Abū Bakr said: “I thought that this would extend to the inhabitants of the towns and reach even those on the outskirts of the desert.”

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission because of the unnamed man. Al-Masʿūdī, whose name was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, had also suffered memory impairment. Yet the hadith is authentic, for it has many corroborating reports from a number of the Companions. He overlooked the hadith of Abū Hurayrah from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “I asked my Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, and He promised me that He would admit seventy thousand from my ummah, appearing like the moon on the night of the full moon. I asked for more, and He granted me an additional seventy thousand for every thousand. I said: ‘My Lord, if these are not the Emigrants of my ummah,’ He said: ‘Then I shall complete their number for you from among the Bedouins.’”