2497 — “O Mu‘adh, you may not meet me after this year of mine; perhaps you will pass by this mosque of mine or my grave.”

Ahmad narrated it (5/235): Al-Hakam ibn Nafi‘ Abu al-Yaman told us: Safwan ibn ‘Amr told us, from Rashid ibn Sa‘d, from ‘Asim ibn Humayd al-Sakuni, that when the Prophet ﷺ sent Mu‘adh, he set out with him for Yemen, instructing him as Mu‘adh rode and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ walked beneath his mount. When he had finished, he said—and then mentioned the hadith.

He added: Mu‘adh ibn Jabal wept out of anguish at parting from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said: “Do not weep, Mu‘adh, for weeping—or indeed weeping—is from Satan.”

Al-Tabarani likewise narrated it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (20/121): Abu Zur‘ah ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Amr told us: Abu al-Yaman told us, through the same chain.

Ahmad also said: Abu al-Mughirah told us: Safwan told us through the same chain, but without his words, “He said: ‘Do not weep …’” and so on. Both additions are found in his narration, and he added at its end: Then he turned and faced toward Medina, saying: “The people most entitled to me are the pious, whoever and wherever they may be.”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy. Abu al-Mughirah’s name was ‘Abd al-Quddus ibn al-Hajjaj. In his Musnad, al-Bazzar differed from Imam Ahmad in reporting from him, saying (1/380—al-Kashf): Al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd Allah told us: ‘Abd al-Quddus ibn al-Hajjaj told us through the same chain, like the narration of Abu al-Yaman, except that he omitted al-Sakuni from the chain of transmission, saying: from Rashid ibn Sa‘d, from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal …

Al-Hafiz said immediately afterward in Zawa’id al-Bazzar (p. 87): “I say: There is a break in the chain.”