many people], then [they will say, ‘Our Lord, we have not left in it anyone whom You commanded us to bring out.’ Then He will say, ‘Return, and] bring out whoever has in his heart the weight of half a dinar. [They will bring out many people, then they will say, ‘Our Lord, we have not left anyone therein whom You commanded us to bring out …’]
until He says: ‘Bring out whoever has in his heart the weight of a speck.’ [They will bring out many people.] Abu Sa‘id said: Whoever does not believe this hadith, let him read this verse:
“Indeed, Allah does not wrong even by the weight of a speck; and if it is a good deed, He multiplies it and grants from Himself an immense reward.” [al-Nisa 4:40]
He said: They will say, ‘Our Lord, we have brought out those whom You commanded us to bring out; no one remains in the Fire who has any good in him.’ He said: Then Allah will say: ‘The angels have interceded, the prophets have interceded, and the believers have interceded; and the Most Merciful of those who show mercy remains.’
He said: Then He will take a handful from the Fire—or, he said, two handfuls—of people who never did any good at all. They will have been burned until they have become charcoal. He said: They will then be brought to water called the Water of Life, which will be poured over them, and they will grow as a seed grows in the silt borne by a flood. [You have seen it beside a rock and beside a tree: the part exposed to the sun is green, while the part in the shade is white.] He said: They will emerge with bodies like pearls, and on their necks will be a seal—or, in another narration, seals—bearing the words: ‘Those set free by Allah.’
He said: It will be said to them: ‘Enter Paradise. Whatever you desire and see shall be yours, along with its like.’ [The people of Paradise will say: ‘These are those set free by the Most Merciful, whom He has admitted into Paradise without any deed they performed or any good they sent ahead.’] He said: They will say, ‘Our Lord, You have given us what You have not given anyone among all the worlds.’ He will say: ‘Yet I have something better than that for you.’ They will say: ‘Our Lord, what could be better than that?’