“... [Ghundar is] the most reliable of those who narrated from Shuʿbah, and his narration accords with that of the preceding hadith of Jābir, in which he said: ‘It expels its impurity.’ Muslim likewise narrated it from Abū Hurayrah with the wording: ‘It casts out impurity.’ Earlier, in the opening section on the virtues of Medina, another route from Abū Hurayrah has: ‘It expels people.’ The narration here, with the wording ‘It expels men,’ does not contradict the narration worded ‘impurity’; rather, it explains the well-known narration—unlike the wording, ‘It expels sins.’ It is possible that something has been omitted from it, the implied meaning being: ‘the people of sins,’ so that it may accord with the rest of the narrations.”
I say: In conclusion, in my view, the soundest wording in transmission is only that of “impurity.” The other wordings are less authentic, and some of them—such as “men” and “people”—may be regarded as explanations of “impurity,” as al-Ḥāfiẓ, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned.
The occasion for this hadith, in the narration of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir from Jābir, explicitly indicates this. And Allah knows best. *
- “The Emigrants will have pulpits of gold upon which they will sit on the Day of Resurrection, safe from alarm.”
Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it (1582) by way of Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥamzah al-Zubayrī; al-Bazzār (2/306/1753), from Sufyān ibn Ḥamzah; and al-Ḥākim (4/76), by way of Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb, who said: My uncle narrated to me. All three narrated from Kathīr ibn Zayd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ... and he cited it. Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī said:
“By Allah, if I were to bestow it upon anyone, I would bestow it upon my people.”
Al-Ḥākim said: