“It was asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what will the believer be like at that time?’ He replied, ‘Like a palm tree: when it falls, it does not spoil; when it is eaten from, it does not break; and it yields wholesome fruit. And like a piece of gold: it enters the fire and is brought out, having only increased in quality.’”

Al-Bazzār recorded it (9409) through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Maghrā al-Dawsī, who said: al-Aʿmash narrated to us from Abū Ayyūb, from him. He said: “We know it only from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, and he is known to have narrated it only through this route.”

I say: Its narrators are reliable and are narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Maghrā al-Dawsī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “Truthful, though criticism has been voiced regarding his reports from al-Aʿmash.” I say: This is one of those reports from him, as you can see. Nevertheless, al-Ḥāfiẓ said in his Zawāʾid (p. 238): “Good.”

As for al-Haythamī, he said in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (7/327): “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and it contains ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Maghrā. Abū Zurʿah and a number of others deemed him reliable, whereas Ibn al-Madīnī judged him weak. The rest of its narrators are narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.”

It has another route from Ibn ʿUmar, which will come, Allah willing, under no. 2288.

Note: The words, “like a piece of gold ...” and so on, do not appear in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid. Al-Suyūṭī cites it in full in al-Jāmiʿ, on the authority of al-Ḥākim’s narration in al-Kunā and of Ibn ʿAsākir; however, he gives the wording: “except in quality.” This is perhaps the correct wording.

The hadith has other corroborating reports as well, some of which have preceded under nos. 1887 and 2238, on the authority of several Companions, including Anas. Al-Ḥāfiẓ graded its chain of transmission good in al-Fatḥ (13/84).