his Companionship. His naming him as “ʿUqbah” in ‘Amal al-Yawm appears to me to be a corruption introduced by one of the copyists. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah correctly named him at the end of his book al-Kalim al-Tayyib, without attributing it to Ahmad. In my commentary on that work, I had attributed it to Abu Dawud; but it is preferable to attribute it to Ibn al-Sunni, since its wording corresponds exactly to his. And Allah knows best.

ʿAbd al-Razzaq also recorded it (10/406/19512), from Maʿmar, from al-Aʿmash, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said it. This is authentic, though with a double break in its chain.

2577 — “Would it not please you, when Allah admits you into Paradise, to find him at one of its gates, where he opens it for you?” Meaning, his young son.

Ibn Saʿd narrated it (7/32–33): ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Raqqi informed us: ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAmr narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, from his uncle, that he used to come to the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, with his son and seat him before him. The Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, asked him, “Do you love him?” He replied, “Yes, with intense love.” Then the boy died, and the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said to him, “It is as though you have grieved for him?” He replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He then mentioned the hadith. The man said, “Indeed.” He said, “Then it shall be so, Allah willing.”

I say: All the narrators in this chain are trustworthy and are narrators relied upon by the two Sahih collections. Yet I was troubled by its wording, “from his uncle.” At first, it occurred to me that it might perhaps be a corruption of “from his father,” for this is how it appears in al-Musnad and Sunan al-Nasa’i, through two chains from Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah, both of which are sounder than this one. However, it appears not to be a scribal corruption, since Ibn Saʿd included it in the biography of the brother of Qurrah ibn Iyas. It therefore seems that the error came from one of its transmitters—one of the two ʿAbds, Ibn Jaʿfar or Ibn ʿUmayr—for both of them suffered a decline in memory.

Moreover, the wording of the hadith in one of al-Nasa’i’s two narrations is more complete. If you wish, consult it in Ahkam al-Jana’iz (p. 162).