“No thorn or anything more severe that afflicts a servant but that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, thereby removes some of his sins.” Aḥmad recorded it (6/185) through an authentic chain meeting Muslim’s criteria. Muslim also recorded it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (8/15) through another route from her, with the wording: “except that He thereby removes some of his sins, or expiates some of his sins thereby.” The uncertainty in the wording is from Yazīd ibn Khusayfah, one of its narrators.

2504 — “Whoever visits a sick person continues to wade through mercy until he sits down; and once he sits down, he becomes immersed in it.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it in al-Musannaf (3/234), as did Aḥmad (3/304), Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in al-Kaffārāt (73/1), al-Bayhaqī (3/380), and Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (711), through the route of Hushaym: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us, from ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Thawbān, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—and he then mentioned it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the Two Shaykhs, with the exception of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar; thus, it meets Muslim’s criteria alone. Al-Bazzār also recorded it through this route (1/368/775—al-Kashf).

Abū Maʿshar, however, contradicted him, narrating from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, who said: Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm entered upon ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Thawbān and said, “O Abū Ḥafṣ, narrate to us a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning which there is no discrepancy.” He said: “Kaʿb ibn Mālik narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said”—and he cited something similar to it. Aḥmad recorded it (3/460), as did Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (85/2), except that in his version it appears as “ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān,” with the names transposed.