Explanation of the hadith of Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar: That Abu Dharr was on his deathbed in al-Rabizah, so his wife wept; he said: What is making you cry?

The Shaykh : The second hadith is from Ibrahim—meaning Ibn al-Ashtar—that Abu Dharr was on his deathbed in al-Rabizah, so his wife wept; he said: What is making you cry? She said: I am crying because I have no control over your life, and I do not have a garment that is large enough for you.
The copy I have says: "large enough for you." If there is an error in your copy, correct it.
"And I do not have a garment that is large enough for you as a shroud." He said: "Do not cry; for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)..." Here, a portion was omitted which I have restored, and it is: after his saying: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) one day while I was with him in a group," this is the addition.
The Messenger (peace be upon him) said in a gathering with a group of the Companions, among whom was Abu Dharr: . He said: So everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually. - Here it says: a village - . So everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually; so none of them remained except me, and I have become in a desolate place where I am dying. Watch the road; for you will see what I say; for I swear by Allah, I have not lied nor have I been lied to. She said: How is that possible when the pilgrims have stopped coming? He said: Watch the road. He said: So while she was doing so, she saw a group of people, their mounts shaking them as if they were hoopoes, so the people came until they stopped before her, and they said: What is the matter with you? She said: A man from among the Muslims, shroud him and you will earn reward in it. They said: Who is he? She said: Abu Dharr. So they ransomed him with their fathers and mothers, and they put their whips on the necks of their mounts, racing toward him, so he said. In my copy: She said, and that is an error.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Their whips.
And they put their whips on the necks of their mounts, racing toward him, so he said: Rejoice; for you are the group about whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said what he said, and then—then is an addition between brackets—. Then I have become today where you see, and if I had a garment from my clothes—here is the point—if I had a garment from my clothes that was large enough to shroud me, I would not be shrouded except in it, so I call upon you by Allah that no man from among you who was a chief, or an emir, or a messenger, shroud me, for all the people had received some position except a young man from the Ansar who was with the people, he said: I am your companion, I have two garments in my chest from my mother's spinning, and one of these two garments is the one on me, he said: You are my companion. Ahmad narrated it and the wording is his, and its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections, and al-Bazzar narrated it similarly with brevity.
The chest: with a fathah on the hamzah and sukun on the tha below it followed by a muhaddah, it is: what a traveler puts his clothes in; meaning "a travel bag."
We return to the beginning of the hadith to explain some of what may be obscure to some people. Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar says: Abu Dharr was on his deathbed in al-Rabizah—a place near Madinah—so his wife wept because she was living with her husband Abu Dharr in a desolate place where there was no companion, no friend, no neighbor, or anything else, so his wife wept as death approached her husband; he said: What is making you cry? She said: I am crying because I have no control over your life, and I do not have a garment that is large enough for you as a shroud. What am I supposed to do? There is no garment to shroud you in, and there is no one here to help me. So he gave her good news of what he had heard from the Messenger (peace be upon him): Do not cry, saying to her: Do not cry; for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) one day while I was with him in a group saying: This is the good news; the wife was distressed by the death of her husband alone and without a shroud to shroud him in, so he informed her that the Messenger (peace be upon him) had said one day in a gathering with a group of the Companions, one of whom was he; one of these people will die in a desolate place in the wilderness, but a group of believers will witness it.
Abu Dharr said: So everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually; meaning sometimes some of them died in groups and some died alone like him, but none of these people remained except me; therefore I am the one who will die in a desolate place, and the news of the Messenger (peace be upon him) must come true for me when he said: ; therefore rejoice and do not despair.
Here is a note I want to make; the text of the hadith addresses the Companions present in that gathering, so look at how the Companion reflects on the precise words of the Messenger, understanding that this address is intended for this specific group present in that gathering, and his mind does not wander to the idea that it means any one of the Companions in general; no; because it is an address to those who were present in that gathering, and from this Abu Dharr was certain that since the group had died sometimes in groups and sometimes alone, but none of them had died in a desolate place, and since all of them had died and none remained except me and I am in the desolate place; therefore I am the one intended by that news; so the full news must come true; which is that a group of believers, meaning from the Companions, witness his death.
So he says: "So everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually, and none of them remained except me, and I have become in a desolate place where I am dying, so watch the road; for you will see what I say; for I swear by Allah, I have not lied nor have I been lied to"; meaning: I have not lied to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Messenger (peace be upon him) has not lied to us, far be it from that!! So ; this news must come true; I am not lying to the Messenger (peace be upon him), and the Messenger does not lie to us.
But she remained distressed and found this news strange, she said: "How is that possible when the pilgrims have stopped coming?!" Here the couple are living in a desolate place; meaning not on the people's road, and the road that people pass through with their caravans, but on a road that pilgrims usually take, and there were no pilgrims returning from Hajj; therefore where will these people come from that you think will attend your death? He said: "Watch the road." He says the words of a believing man who believes that the news of the Messenger (peace be upon him) will certainly come true.
He said: So while she was doing so—meaning watching the road in obedience to her husband's order—she saw a group of people, their mounts shaking them. The shaking is a type of movement, and here there is a disagreement between "shaking" and "racing" regarding the speed of movement in some copies, this is Ahmad's narration, so while she was doing so she saw a group of people, their mounts shaking them as if they were hoopoes. I actually did not understand this simile, so if any of our brothers present have prior knowledge of this simile; let them inform us of it; meaning a simile to the hoopoe, as if they were hoopoes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: No, not that.

The questioner: Speed.

The Shaykh: Speed, but what is the point of the simile?
So the people came until they stopped before her, and they said: What is the matter with you? She said: A man from among the Muslims, shroud him and you will earn reward in it; meaning here a man is on his deathbed, so perhaps you will earn his reward and shroud him. They said: Who is he? She said: Abu Dharr. And due to the fame of Abu Dharr, as soon as they heard his name, they ransomed him with their fathers and mothers, and they put their whips on the necks of their mounts. It appears that the intended meaning is that they hung the whips they use to drive their mounts on the mounts, racing toward him to head to where Abu Dharr was dying.
He said: And they put their whips on the necks of their mounts, racing toward him. He said: meaning they came to him. He said: Rejoice; for you are the group about whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said what he said: referring to this phrase.
Then here a portion was omitted—also—strange, I do not know if the author abbreviated it, and this is not the concern of authors, and the strange thing is that al-Haythami followed him in it in "Majma' al-Zawa'id," this omission... .