he told me that Gabriel would review the Quran with him once every year, but that he had reviewed it with me twice this year; and I think that my appointed time has drawn near. So fear Allah and be patient, for I am indeed an excellent predecessor for you.’ She said: ‘So I wept as you saw me weep. Then, when he saw my distress, he spoke to me confidentially a second time and said’—then he mentioned the hadith—‘[and I laughed as you saw me laugh].’

The wording is al-Bukhari’s, the addition is Muslim’s, and those cited after him report something similar. In one narration, Muslim added after her words, ‘Then she was laughing’: ‘I said, “Never have I seen joy so close to sorrow as on this day.”’ This is also a narration of al-Bukhari (3623), and part of it is found in al-Adab al-Mufrad (1030).

Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Hibban (6915), al-Nasa’i, and others then recorded it through other chains in abbreviated form, without mention of the two statements or of Fatimah’s merit—except in a narration of al-Nasa’i and Ibn Hibban (6913), through Muhammad ibn ‘Amr, from Abu Salamah, from ‘A’ishah, in abbreviated form. Its ending states: ‘He told me that I would be the first of his family to join him, and that I would be the leader of the women of Paradise, apart from Mary daughter of Imran; so I laughed.’

Its chain of transmission is good. This addition is corroborated by the hadith of Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, whose documentation was given earlier under no. 796. The word “predecessor” in his statement, peace and blessings be upon him, is corroborated by Ibn Ishaq’s narration from ‘Abd Allah ibn Rafi‘, from Umm Salamah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say from this pulpit: ‘I am your predecessor at the Pond.’