- “Whoever among you is able not to die except in Madinah, let him die there; for whoever dies there, I will intercede for him or testify on his behalf.”
It was narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (1032—Mawarid), al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (24/331/824), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shuʿab (2/1/83/1), through Yunus, from Ibn Shihab, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah, from Sumaytah—a woman of Banu Layth—who heard her relating to Safiyyah bint Abi ʿUbayd that she had heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say it.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission, its narrators being reliable. There is a slight discrepancy in its chain which, Allah willing, is not detrimental. Al-Bayhaqi and al-Hafiz mentioned it in al-Isabah, in Sumaytah’s biographical entry.
Among these discrepancies is what al-Tabarani (24/294/747) and al-Bayhaqi narrated through ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Muhammad al-Darawardi, from Usamah ibn Zayd, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿIkrimah, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, from his father, from Subayʿah al-Aslamiyyah: the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. However, he said: “I would surely be an intercessor or a witness for him on the Day of Resurrection.”
Al-Bayhaqi said: “This is an error; rather, it is from Sumaytah.” Al-Mundhiri approved this in al-Targhib (2/143).
In another narration of al-Tabarani (825), through Ibn Abi Fudayk, from Ibn Abi Dhiʾb, from Ibn Shihab, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (!), from an orphan girl who was with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, he said it with wording close to that of Usamah’s narration.