1542 — “O Allah, I ask You for all good, immediate and deferred, that which I know and that which I do not know. I seek refuge in You from all evil, immediate and deferred, that which I know and that which I do not know. O Allah, I ask You for the good for which Your servant and Prophet asked You, and I seek refuge in You from the evil from which Your servant and Prophet sought refuge in You. O Allah, I ask You for Paradise and for every word or deed that brings one nearer to it; and I seek refuge in You from the Fire and from every word or deed that brings one nearer to it. And I ask You to make every decree You decree for me good.”

Ibn Majah (2/433–434, al-Taziyyah edition), Ibn Hibban (2413), Ahmad (6/134), and Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (3/1103, Islamic Office facsimile edition) narrated it through Hammad ibn Salamah, who said: Jabr ibn Habib informed me, from Umm Kulthum bint Abu Bakr, from Aishah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, taught her this supplication. He then cited it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy narrators of Muslim, apart from Jabr ibn Habib, who is trustworthy.

As for al-Busiri’s statement in al-Zawa’id (232/1): “This chain is subject to criticism. I have not seen anyone comment on this Umm Kulthum, and a group counted her among the Companions; but this is questionable, since she was born after Abu Bakr’s death.”

I say: It is sufficient accreditation for her that Muslim included her in his Sahih, and that the eminent Companion Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari narrated from her. She was the wife of Talhah ibn Ubayd Allah, one of the ten promised Paradise, and she bore him Zakariyya, Yusuf, and Aishah, as Ibn Sa‘d mentioned in Talhah’s biography (3/214).

Then I found the hadith in al-Mustadrak (1/521–522), through Shu‘bah, from Jabr ibn Habib, with the same chain. He said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him.