(54) A Choice Given to the Prophet
The Almighty gave the Prophet Muhammad the choice of having half of his ummah admitted into Paradise or receiving the right to intercede. The Prophet opted for the intercession for his ummah. Intercession is more useful and favors his ummah more effectively than taking half of the ummah into Paradise.
1. Al-Rabīᶜ b. Sulaymān al-Murādī → Bishr (b. Bakr) → Ibn Jābir → Sulaym b. ᶜĀmir → ᶜAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaᶜī:
We stopped with the Prophet in a place, and I woke through the night. I did not see anything in the camp taller than the rear of my saddle. Men as well as their mounts had stuck to the ground. I stood up and started walking among the people. I reached the place where the Prophet was sleeping. I found him missing and put my hand on the floor. I found it was cold. I came out and walked among the people and exclaimed, “We belong to Allāh and to Him we shall return.” I thought the Prophet was gone. I went out of the camp. I saw something black. I walked towards it and threw a stone. I walked towards the black thing. I found Muᶜādh b. Jabal and Abū ᶜUbaydah b. al-Jarrāḥ. We found that a sound was coming from what lay in front of us, like the sound produced by a hand mill or by a reed when it is met by the wind. We said to one another, “O people, keep calm till the morning dawns or the Prophet comes back.” We remained in that state for some time. Then he (the Prophet) said, “Where are Muᶜādh b. Jabal, Abū ᶜUbaydah and ‘ᶜAwf b. Mālik?” We said, “Yes.”
[Abū Bakr said: I do not find the word yes in my book.]
He came towards us, and we walked along him without asking any questions. Nor did he tell us anything. When he sat on his seat, he said, “Do you know what choice Allāh gave me tonight?” We said, “Allāh and His Prophet know best.” He said, “He gave me the option to choose between the offer to let half of my ummah enter Paradise and interceding for them. I chose intercession.” We said, “O Messenger of Allah! Pray to Allāh that He make us among those who deserve it.” He said, “It is for every Muslim.”
Abū Bakr said: I am afraid the statement “I heard it from ᶜAwf b. Mālik” reflects confusion in the mind of the narrator (Sulaym b. ᶜĀmir) because Maᶜdīkarib is an intermediary narrator [whose name has not been mentioned in this chain].
2. Aḥmad b. ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān b. Wahb → Ḥajjāj (b. Rishdīn) → Muᶜāwiyah (b. Ṣāliḥ) → Abū Yaḥyā Sulaym b. ᶜĀmir → Maᶜdīkarib → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
We set out on a voyage with the Prophet….
He related the same report. However, he said:
My Lord consulted me about my Ummah and said, “Do you wish that I grant you your request today, or that I should give you a chance to intercede for your ummah?”
[He (the Prophet) said]: I said, “I would like to intercede for my ummah.” ᶜAwf said, “We said: O Messenger of Allāh. Count us among those for whom you will intercede first.” He said, “But I will make it for every Muslim.”
3. Muhammad b. Bashshār → Muᶜādh b. Hishām → his father → Qatādah → Abū al-Mulīḥ → ᶜAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaᶜī:
We were with the Prophet…
4. Bundār → Ibn ᶜAdī b. Abī Saᶜīd b. Abī ᶜArūbah → Qatādah → Abū al-Mulīḥ → ᶜAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaᶜī:
I woke up and did not see the Prophet. I stood up and went out in search of him. When I met Muᶜādh b. Jabal I came to know that he too was frightened by what had frightened me. While we were in that state, we heard a sound like the one created by a hand mill from the upper part of the wadi. While we were still in that state, the Prophet came and said, “A Messenger from Allah came to me and asked me to choose between entering half of my ummah in Paradise and a right to intercede for them. I chose the intercession.”
We said, “We beseech you to intercede for us for the sake of Allāh and your company, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet said, “You are among those whom my intercession will benefit.”
He (the narrator) said that they walked to other people and saw them frightened due to the absence of the Prophet. The Prophet came to them and said, “A Messenger from Allah came to me and asked me to choose between entering half of my ummah in Paradise and a right to intercede for them. I chose the intercession.”
They said, “We beseech you to intercede for us for the sake of Allāh and your company, O Messenger of Allah.”
He said, “You are among those whom my intercession will benefit.”
When they barraged him with their questions he said, “My intercession is for every such person of my ummah who dies without ascribing any partners to Allāh.”
5. Abū Mūsā → Ibn Abī ᶜAdī → Saᶜīd → Qatādah → Abū al-Malīḥ al-Hudhalī → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
We were with the Prophet in some of his travels. The Prophet stopped somewhere and we stayed with him.
Abū Mūsā related the complete narrative in which he said:
I met Muᶜādh b. Jabal and Abū Musā.
In the last part of the narrative, he said:
The Prophet said, “I bear witness before all those present here that my intercession is for every one of my ummah who dies without making any partners with Allāh.”
6. Abū Mūsā → Muᶜādh b. Hishām → his father → Qatādah → Abū al-Mulīḥ → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
The same ḥadīth.
7. Hārūn b. Isḥāq al-Hamadānī → ᶜAbdah (b. Sulaymān) → Saᶜīd → Qatādah → Abū al-Mulīḥ → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
Hārūn related the same narrative in full.
Abū Bakr said: If it were allowable to adduce baseless narratives in support of a view and if it were appropriate to bring a narrative narrated by a man of weak memory against the narration by a narrator of sound memory, then I would have declared that Abū al-Mulīḥ has not heard this report from ᶜAwf b. Mālik for they are separated by an intermediary, Abū Burdah.
This I say because this fact has been reported to me through the following chain:
8. Abū Mūsā → ᶜAbd al-Ṣamad → Muhammad b. Abī Mulīḥ → Ziyād → Abū al-Mulīḥ → Abū Burdah → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
Abū Mūsā related the complete narrative.
Abū Bakr said: Muhammad b. al-Mulīḥ and his brother Ziyād are not trustworthy narrators who could be relied on to bring evidence against Saᶜīd b. Abī ᶜArūbah, Hishām al-Dastawāᵓī and Qatādah. Qatādah is the most learned person among his contemporaries. He is one of such four scholars regarding whom it is said, “They are the ultimate source of knowledge in their times.” Similarly, Saᶜīd b. Abī ᶜArūbah is the man who was the best memorizer of his time. Similarly, Hishām b. al-Dastawāᵓī is the most accurate scribe of his time. I have heard Aḥmad b. ᶜAbdah saying that he heard Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭiyālisī saying:
We received the ḥadīths from four scholars: al-Zuhrī, Qatādah, al-Aᶜmash and Abū Isḥāq. Qatādah had the best knowledge regarding the ikhtilāf al-ḥadīth (ḥadīths which apparently contradict one another.) Al-Zuhrī outmatched all in the knowledge of isnād. Abū Isḥāq outshined all in his knowledge of the ḥadīth from ᶜAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and ᶜAbd Allāh. Al-Aᶜmash excelled in all these things. By contrast, others excelled only in one or two disciplines.
I heard Muhammad b. Yaḥyā saying, “I heard ᶜAlī b. ᶜAbd Allāh saying, “Qatādah has three disciples: the best memorizer among them is Saᶜīd b. ᶜArūbah. He excelled all others in his knowledge of what Qatādah had heard and received which Shuᶜbah did not receive. Saᶜīd is the one who narrated more than all. However, Hishām had correctly recorded the traditions.”
Abū Bakr said: Abū al-Mulīḥ has another isnād concerning this narrative which contains the name of Abū Mūsā al-Ashᶜarī in the chain. If I were to pronounce a judgment for Muhammad b. Abī al-Mulīḥ and his brother Ziyād both of whom narrate from Qatādah, I would have also declared that even Abū Burdah did not hear this report from ᶜAwf b. Mālik. For Abū Burdah and ᶜAwf b. Mālik are separated by Abū Mūsā al-Ashᶜarī. Since I have not pronounced a judgment for Abū al-Malīḥ over Qatādah, Saᶜīd and Hishām, I have brought two different isnāds for this report; one, Abū al-Mulīḥ from ᶜAwf b. Mālik and two, Abū Burdah from Abū Mūsā from ᶜAwf b. Mālik.
9. Abū Bishr al-Wāsitī → Khālid (b. ᶜAbd Allāh) → Khālid (al-Ḥadhdhāᵓ) Abū Qilābah → ᶜAwf b. Mālik:
We accompanied the Prophet in one of the wars. One night we found the Prophet missing from his resting place. [As a result of the shock] it seemed that our companion’s heads turned into stones. The camels dropped their ears. I saw a figure. It was Abū Mūsā al-Ashᶜarī. He faced me, and I faced him.
Khālid said that Ḥumayd b. Hilāl said that Abū Burdah said that Abū Mūsā narrated that ᶜAwf b. Mālik said:
I heard a rumbling of a hand mill from behind Abū Mūsā. I said, “Where is the Prophet?” He said, “Behind me.” Meanwhile the Prophet had come near me. I found myself confronting him. I said, “O Messenger of Allāh! When a Prophet is in the land of the enemy, he should be guarded.” The Prophet said, “A Messenger from Allah came to me a short while ago and asked me to choose between admitting half of my ummah into Paradise and a right to intercede for all. I chose the intercession.”
10. Muhammad b. Bashshār and Abū Mūsā too narrated the ḥadīth of Abū al-Mulīḥ to me through the chain: Sālim b. Nūḥ → al-Jurayrī → Abū al-Salīl → Abū al-Mulīḥ → al-Ashᶜarī:
We were journeying with the Prophet. We used to watch over him when he would be sleeping during the nights. One night I came to him and did not find him. I went out looking for him. I met two other persons who were also searching for him. I said, “Did you feel him?” They said, “No. We heard the sound of a hand mill from the upper side of the wadi. We concluded that he must be on that side.” Suddenly the Prophet came upon us. He said, “Who are you?” We said, “We missed you and [were searching for you], O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “A Messenger from Allah came to me tonight and asked me to choose between admitting half of my ummah into Paradise and a right to intercede for all. I chose the intercession.”
He (Abū Mūsā) said that they said, “O Messenger of Allah, make us among those for whom you will intercede.” He said, “You are among those who deserve my intercession.”
Bundār added: [Abū Mūsā said:], “Then he (the Prophet) came to us and we returned to the people who were desperately looking for him once they missed him. He said, “A Messenger from Allah came to me and asked me to choose between admitting half of my ummah into Paradise and a right to intercede for all of them. I chose the intercession.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, make us among those for whom you will intercede.” He said, “You are among them.””
Bundār and Abū Mūsā added: [the Prophet said,] “and the ones who witness that there is no god but Allāh and that I am His servant and His Prophet [will also be among those deserving my intercession].”
Abū Bakr said: I could not learn from Bundār his saying: “Make us among those for whom you will intercede.” This is the wording of the report of Bundār. Abū Mūsā reported from al-Jurayrī. He also said, “He heard a rumbling of a hand mill [instead of “we heard”].”
11. The narrative of Abū al-Mulīḥ has also been reported to us by: ᶜAbd al-Wārith b. ᶜAbd al-Ṣamad → his father → Muhammad b. Abī al-Mulīḥ al-Hudhalī → Ziyād b. Abī al-Mulīḥ → his father → Abū Burdah:
ᶜAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaᶜī reported that he was with the Prophet on a journey. He kept advancing all day without halting, and all night, halting only for prayers. The journey continued till they camped while it was midnight. A guard watched over the Prophet where he (the Prophet) put his saddle. I went to that man. I looked around. I found all were sleeping. All the animals had dropped their ears [i.e., were resting]. I stayed there for a long time, looking around for him.
After this introduction, he mentioned the rest of the narrative in which he said, “Suddenly I found myself facing Muᶜādh b. Jabal and al-Ashᶜarī.”
The above passage is translated from Kitāb al-Tawḥīd by Imām Abū Bakr Ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311 AH). English translation by Dr Tariq Mahmood Hashmi.
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