Explanation of the hadith of 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad that a group of three from Banu 'Udhrah came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and embraced Islam. He said, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said
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The Shaykh : After that hadith is another hadith, which is also authentic, and it contains some additional detail and elaboration on the previous hadith.
The author said: And from 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, that a group of three from Banu 'Udhrah came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and embraced Islam. He said, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Who will take responsibility for them?" Talhah—this is the one mentioned previously in the first hadith, ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib—said, "I will." So they stayed with Talhah. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent out an expedition, and one of them went out with it and was martyred—this may be the man mentioned in the previous hadith, which is more likely, or it may be another man—then he sent out another expedition, and another one of them went out with it and was martyred. Then the third one died on his bed. Talhah said, "I saw these three who were with me in Paradise. I saw the one who died on his bed ahead of them, and I saw the one who was martyred last next to him, and I saw the first of them as the last of them." He said, "This troubled me, so I went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned it to him. He saidMusnad Ahmad 1401Hasan because of corroborating evidence; this is a Da'if isnad] (Darussalam). It was narrated by Ahmad and Abu Ya'la, and their narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections. In its beginning, according to Ahmad, it is mursal (missing the Companion link) as mentioned previously, and Abu Ya'la connected it by mentioning Talhah in it.
As mentioned previously, there is some ambiguity in it, because nothing was explicitly stated regarding the mursal (missing the Companion link) to which it refers. However, this is actually apparent to one who knows the biographies of the hadith narrators, because this hadith begins from 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, "that a group from Banu 'Udhrah..." If we know that 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, who is ibn al-Had, was a Tabi'i (successor), the mursal nature of the hadith becomes apparent, because he said "that a group from Banu 'Udhrah came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Since 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad was a Tabi'i, he did not witness the event or the story. Therefore, the hadith is mursal (missing the Companion link). When the author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his takhrij (tracing of the hadith to its sources), "and in its beginning, according to Ahmad, it is mursal," he is referring to this aspect, meaning as if he is saying, "And 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad was a Tabi'i, so he did not witness the story, therefore the hadith is mursal." For this reason, he adds after saying "as mentioned previously, and Abu Ya'la connected it by mentioning Talhah in it," that this story, as we said, may be the previous one, but it contains some detail, or it may be another story, and the first possibility is more likely. In it, it shows how a Muslim, the later he is, the greater his reward and the more his reward, as evidenced by the fact that the martyr who was martyred after the first one was ahead of the first one, and this third one who was not martyred was ahead of the two martyrs. Therefore, the life of a Muslim, however long his life may be, as long as he lives within the circle of Islam and strives against his self and his desires, the longer his life, the better it is for him. And we ask Allah the Exalted to lengthen our lives and to make our deeds good. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The author said: And from 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, that a group of three from Banu 'Udhrah came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and embraced Islam. He said, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Who will take responsibility for them?" Talhah—this is the one mentioned previously in the first hadith, ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib—said, "I will." So they stayed with Talhah. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent out an expedition, and one of them went out with it and was martyred—this may be the man mentioned in the previous hadith, which is more likely, or it may be another man—then he sent out another expedition, and another one of them went out with it and was martyred. Then the third one died on his bed. Talhah said, "I saw these three who were with me in Paradise. I saw the one who died on his bed ahead of them, and I saw the one who was martyred last next to him, and I saw the first of them as the last of them." He said, "This troubled me, so I went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned it to him. He said
What did you find so strange about that? No one is better before Allah than a believer who lives longer as a Muslim, because of his fasting, takbeer and tahleel.
وما أنكرت من ذلك ليس أحد أفضل عند الله عز وجل من مؤمن يُعَمّر في الإسلام لتسبيحه وتكبيره وتهليلهAs mentioned previously, there is some ambiguity in it, because nothing was explicitly stated regarding the mursal (missing the Companion link) to which it refers. However, this is actually apparent to one who knows the biographies of the hadith narrators, because this hadith begins from 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, "that a group from Banu 'Udhrah..." If we know that 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, who is ibn al-Had, was a Tabi'i (successor), the mursal nature of the hadith becomes apparent, because he said "that a group from Banu 'Udhrah came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Since 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad was a Tabi'i, he did not witness the event or the story. Therefore, the hadith is mursal (missing the Companion link). When the author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his takhrij (tracing of the hadith to its sources), "and in its beginning, according to Ahmad, it is mursal," he is referring to this aspect, meaning as if he is saying, "And 'Abd Allah ibn Shaddad was a Tabi'i, so he did not witness the story, therefore the hadith is mursal." For this reason, he adds after saying "as mentioned previously, and Abu Ya'la connected it by mentioning Talhah in it," that this story, as we said, may be the previous one, but it contains some detail, or it may be another story, and the first possibility is more likely. In it, it shows how a Muslim, the later he is, the greater his reward and the more his reward, as evidenced by the fact that the martyr who was martyred after the first one was ahead of the first one, and this third one who was not martyred was ahead of the two martyrs. Therefore, the life of a Muslim, however long his life may be, as long as he lives within the circle of Islam and strives against his self and his desires, the longer his life, the better it is for him. And we ask Allah the Exalted to lengthen our lives and to make our deeds good. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.