I then found another corroborating report for part of it, through Abd Allah ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr, stating that Abu al-Darda used to say: “Your deeds are presented to your deceased, and they rejoice or are saddened.”

Nu'aym ibn Hammad recorded it in Zawa'id al-Zuhd (42/165): Safwan ibn Amr informed us; he said: Abd Allah ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr narrated to me that Abu al-Darda used to say—and then he cited it. I say: The narrators in this chain are trustworthy, but Safwan’s statement, “Abd Allah ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr narrated to me,” poses a problem, for I have not found anyone named “Abd Allah ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr” among the narrators. However, I found “Jubayr ibn Nufayr” among Safwan’s teachers, and I found in his biographical entry that his kunyah was Abu Abd al-Rahman, though it has also been said that it was Abu Abd Allah. I therefore strongly suspect that there is an error in the chain, and that the correct wording is: “Abu Abd Allah, Jubayr ibn Nufayr.”

It is also possible, however, that the correct reading is Abd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr, since Safwan is also reported to have narrated from this Abd al-Rahman. Safwan narrated from both the father and the son. According to the first possibility, the chain is continuous, for Jubayr was a Successor who lived through both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. As for his son Abd al-Rahman, he was a younger Successor; they mention no reports of his narration except from his father, Firas ibn Malik, and a number of Successors. And Allah knows best.

2759 — “Whenever he wished to enter a town, he would not enter it until he said: ‘O Allah, Lord of the seven heavens and all that they shade; Lord of the seven earths and all that they bear; Lord of the winds and all that they scatter; Lord of the devils and those whom they lead astray: I ask You for its goodness and the goodness of what is in it, and I seek refuge in You from its evil and the evil of what is in it.’”

Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat (2/14/2/7667): Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Rustah narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn al-Mustamir al-Aruqi informed us; Ya'qub ibn Muhammad narrated to us.