2267 — “Whenever forty believers intercede for a believer, Allah accepts their intercession for him.”

It was recorded by Ibn Mājah (1/453), from Bakr ibn Sulaym, who said: Ḥumayd ibn Ziyād al-Kharrāṭ narrated to me, from Kurayb, the freedman of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “A son of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās died, and he said to me, ‘Kurayb, get up and see whether anyone has gathered for my son.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Woe to you! How many do you think there are—forty?’ I said, ‘No, rather more.’ He said, ‘Then bring my son out, for I testify that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say’”—and he then cited the hadith.

I say: This chain of transmission is weak. Its flaw lies with this Bakr, whom al-Dhahabī mentioned in al-Mughnī and said: “Ibn ʿAdī said: ‘He narrates reports independently for which he is not corroborated, and he is weak.’”

I say: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb differed from him in the chain of transmission, saying: Abū Ṣakhr—who is Ḥumayd ibn Ziyād al-Kharrāṭ—informed me, from Shurayk ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Namir, from Kurayb, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās, through the same chain, with similar wording. The wording attributed to the Prophet is: “No Muslim man dies and forty men, who do not associate anything with Allah, stand over his funeral, except that Allah accepts their intercession for him.” It was recorded by Muslim (3/53), Abū Dāwūd (2/64), al-Bayhaqī (4/30), and Aḥmad (1/277–278).

2268 — “Every heart has a cloud like that of the moon: while the moon is shining, a cloud comes over it and it grows dark; then, when the cloud clears away, it shines again.”

It was narrated by Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ḥawrānī in his compilation (70/1), Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilyah (2/196), and al-Daylamī (4/8–9), from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥammād al-Qaṭṭān, who narrated to us: