Explanation of the author's (may Allah have mercy on him) statement: "And from Ibrahim, meaning Ibn al-Ash'tar, that Abu Dharr was on the verge of death while he was at al-Rabizah, so his wife wept, and he said:
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The Shaykh : The second hadith is from Ibrahim, meaning Ibn al-Ash'tar, that Abu Dharr was on the verge of death while he was at al-Rabizah, so his wife wept, and he said: 'What makes you weep?' She said: 'I weep because I have no control over your life, and I do not have a garment large enough for you.' In the copy I have, it says 'large enough for you,' meaning if there is an error in the text, correct it. And I do not have a garment large enough to serve as your shroud. He said: 'Do not weep, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say...' Here, a portion was omitted which I have restored, and it is after his statement '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 Companions, including Abu Dharr: Sahih Ibn Hibban 62:555 He said: 'Everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually. Here... a village. Everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually, until none remained but me. And I have now come to 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.' 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 whose mounts were trotting, as if they were cranes. The people came until they stood before her, and they said: 'What is the matter?' She said: 'A Muslim man; shroud him and you will be rewarded for it.' They said: 'Who is he?' She said: 'Abu Dharr.' They ransomed him with their fathers and mothers, and they put their whips on their mounts' necks, racing toward him. He said: In my copy, it says 'she said,' and that is an error.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Their whips. So they put their whips, and they put their whips on their mounts' necks, racing toward him. He said: 'Be glad, for you are the group about whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said what he said. And then... [an addition between brackets] And I have now come to the place you see. If I had a garment from my clothes large enough to serve as my shroud, I would not be shrouded in anything else. Here is the point. If I had a garment from my clothes large enough to serve as my shroud, I would not be shrouded in anything else. I call upon you by Allah: do not shroud me with a man from among you who was a district chief, a governor, or a courier, for every one of the people had received something from that, 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 I am wearing.' He said: 'You are my companion.' Narrated by Ahmad, and the wording is his, and its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections, and al-Bazzar narrated it similarly with brevity.
Al-'aybah (the chest) is with a kasrah on the hamzah of the 'ayn, a sukun on the second letter (thaa), followed by a muhaddah; it is what a traveler puts his clothes in, meaning a travel bag.
We return to the hadith to explain some points that may be obscure to some people. Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'tar says that Abu Dharr was on the verge of death while he was at al-Rabizah, a place near Madinah. His wife wept because she was living with her husband Abu Dharr in a desolate place where there was no companion, friend, or neighbor, or anything else. So his wife wept, and her husband was on the verge of death. He said: 'What makes you weep?' She said: 'I weep because I have no control over your life, and I do not have a garment large enough to serve as your shroud.' ... 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), saying to her: 'Do not weep, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say one day while I was with him in a group:Sahih Ibn Hibban 62:555 This is the good news. The wife was distressed by the death of her husband alone, with no 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 Companions, of whom he was one, that one of them would die in a desolate place in the wilderness, but a group of believers would witness it. Abu Dharr said: '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 them remained but 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 that a group of believers would witness it. Therefore, be glad and do not despair. Here is a note I want to build upon: the text of the hadith addresses the Companions present in that gathering. So look at how the Companions reflected on the precise words of the Messenger to understand that this address was intended for the specific group present in that gathering, and it did not go... and his mind did not go to the idea that it meant one of all the Companions, because it was an address to those who were present in that gathering. From this, Abu Dharr became 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 in that group had died and none remained but me, and I am in the desolate place, then 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, would witness his death. So he says: 'Everyone who was with me in that gathering died, some in groups and some individually, until none remained but me. And I have now come to 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), nor has the Messenger (peace be upon him) lied to us, God forbid that. So [Adh-Dhariyat 51:23] this news must come true; I am not lying to the Messenger (peace be upon him), nor does the Messenger lie to us. But she was still distressed and surprised by this news, saying: 'How is that possible when the pilgrims have stopped coming?' Here, the couple is living in a desolate place, meaning not on the path of people and the road by which people pass in their caravans, but on a road usually traveled by pilgrims, and there were no longer pilgrims coming from the Hajj. So where would these people come from whom you think will attend your death? He said: 'Watch the road.' He said this as a believing man who believes that the news of the Messenger (peace be upon him) will come true and must come true. He said: 'So while she was doing so,' meaning watching the road in obedience to her husband's command, 'she saw a group of people whose mounts were trotting.' 'Trotting' is a type of gait, and here there is a disagreement between 'trotting' and 'galloping' regarding speed in movement. In some copies, this is the narration of Ahmad: 'So while she was doing so, she saw a group of people whose mounts were trotting, as if they were cranes.' I do not actually understand this simile. If any of our brothers present have prior knowledge of this simile, let them inform us of it, meaning the simile of the cranes, as if they were cranes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No, it was not said this way.
The questioner : Speed.
The Shaykh : It was quick, but what is the point of the comparison? So the group approached until they stood before it, and they asked, "What is the matter?" She said, "A man from among the Muslims. Shroud him and you will be rewarded for it. Here is a man who has been overtaken by death, so perhaps you will earn his reward and shroud him." They said, "Who is he?" She said, "Abu Dharr." And because of Abu Dharr's fame, the first thing they did when they heard his name was to ransom him with their fathers and mothers.
A man from among you will surely die, a man from among you will surely die, a man from among you will surely die in a desolate place, witnessed by a group of believers.
ليموتن رجل منكم، ليموتن منكم رجل، ليموتن رجل منكم بفلاة من الأرض يشهده عصابة من المؤمنينThe questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Their whips. So they put their whips, and they put their whips on their mounts' necks, racing toward him. He said: 'Be glad, for you are the group about whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said what he said. And then... [an addition between brackets] And I have now come to the place you see. If I had a garment from my clothes large enough to serve as my shroud, I would not be shrouded in anything else. Here is the point. If I had a garment from my clothes large enough to serve as my shroud, I would not be shrouded in anything else. I call upon you by Allah: do not shroud me with a man from among you who was a district chief, a governor, or a courier, for every one of the people had received something from that, 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 I am wearing.' He said: 'You are my companion.' Narrated by Ahmad, and the wording is his, and its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections, and al-Bazzar narrated it similarly with brevity.
Al-'aybah (the chest) is with a kasrah on the hamzah of the 'ayn, a sukun on the second letter (thaa), followed by a muhaddah; it is what a traveler puts his clothes in, meaning a travel bag.
We return to the hadith to explain some points that may be obscure to some people. Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'tar says that Abu Dharr was on the verge of death while he was at al-Rabizah, a place near Madinah. His wife wept because she was living with her husband Abu Dharr in a desolate place where there was no companion, friend, or neighbor, or anything else. So his wife wept, and her husband was on the verge of death. He said: 'What makes you weep?' She said: 'I weep because I have no control over your life, and I do not have a garment large enough to serve as your shroud.' ... 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), saying to her: 'Do not weep, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say one day while I was with him in a group:
A man from among you will surely die in a desolate place, witnessed by a group of Muslims.
ليموتن رجل منكم بفلاة من الأرض يشهده عصابة من المسلمينindeed, it is truth - just as [sure as] it is that you are speaking.
إنه لحق مثل ما أنكم تنطقونThe questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No, it was not said this way.
The questioner : Speed.
The Shaykh : It was quick, but what is the point of the comparison? So the group approached until they stood before it, and they asked, "What is the matter?" She said, "A man from among the Muslims. Shroud him and you will be rewarded for it. Here is a man who has been overtaken by death, so perhaps you will earn his reward and shroud him." They said, "Who is he?" She said, "Abu Dharr." And because of Abu Dharr's fame, the first thing they did when they heard his name was to ransom him with their fathers and mothers.