- “Allah Most High says: ‘When I afflict My believing servant and he does not complain of Me to those who visit him, I release him from My bonds, then replace his flesh with flesh better than his flesh and his blood with blood better than his blood; then he resumes his deeds anew.’”
It was recorded by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (1/349), and through his chain by al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan (3/375), through Abu Bakr al-Hanafi, who said: ‘Asim ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd narrated to us from Sa'id ibn Abi Sa'id al-Maqburi, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah,’ who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said this.
He said: “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, though neither of them recorded it.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him in his Talkhis.
In al-Muhadhdhab, however—an abridgment of al-Bayhaqi’s Sunan—he indicated that it has a hidden defect, saying: “The Six did not record it, owing to its hidden defect.”
Apparently, he meant by this that it is attributed to the Companion. For al-Bayhaqi recorded, immediately after this report attributed to the Prophet, through Abu Sakhr Humayd ibn Ziyad, that Sa'id al-Maqburi related to him, saying: I heard Abu Hurayrah say:
“Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: ‘I afflict My believing servant, and if he does not complain of this to those who visit him, I loosen My bonds from him and replace his blood with blood better than his blood, and his flesh with flesh better than his flesh. Then I say to him: Resume your deeds anew.’”
I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, except that Abu Sakhr was criticized with regard to his precision. In al-Taqrib, it says: “Truthful, but makes errors.”