He then proceeded with the aforementioned detailed discussion and concluded it by saying:

“The sum of the matter is that this question is one of the nonessential questions. For this reason, many scholars of doctrinal fundamentals did not address it, and Abu Hanifah withheld a definitive answer to it, as mentioned above. And Allah knows best what is correct.”

I say: That suspension of judgment was indeed what a careful consideration of the evidence of both sides, and of each side’s response to the other’s evidence, would require, were it not for the hadith in al-Bukhari which al-Qurtubi described, as mentioned above, as an explicit text on the issue. Al-Hafiz al-‘Asqalani also related this from Ibn Battal, although al-Hafiz strained to rebut its indication and reinterpret it:

“The superiority is attained only by the one who remembers Allah together with the assembly; thus, the side that includes the Lord of Might is unquestionably superior to the side that does not. The superiority, then, pertains to the whole in comparison with the whole.”

Long ago, in al-Targhib wa-al-Tarhib, I came across a hadith narrated by al-Bazzar and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, which is more explicit on this subject and stronger, because it invalidates the aforementioned interpretation. Its wording is:

“The first of Allah’s creation to enter Paradise will be the poor Emigrants, through whom frontier posts are secured and hardships are averted. One of them will die with an unfulfilled need within his breast, unable to fulfill it. Allah will say to His angels, ‘Go to them and greet them with peace.’ The angels will say, ‘Our Lord, we are the inhabitants of Your heavens and Your chosen ones among Your creation. Do You command us to go to these people and greet them with peace?!’ He will say, ‘These were servants of Mine who worshipped Me and associated nothing with Me, and through whom frontier posts were secured...’ He said: Then the angels will come to them and enter upon them through every gate: ‘Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured. How excellent is the final abode!’”