from Ubadah bin As-Samit, he said: "I entered upon him while he was dying, so I cried, and he said: "There now, why are you crying? For by Allah, if I am a martyr , then I will intercede for you, and if I can I will benefit you,' then he said: 'By Allah! There is no Hadith which I heard from the Messenger of Allah (SAW) which is good for you but I narrate it to you today, while I am near death. I heard the Messenger of Allah (SAW) say: "Whoever testifies to La Ilaha Illallah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, then Allah has forbidden the fire for him."

We met 'Abdullah bin 'Umar and discussed the divine decree (al qadar) and what others said concerning it. He said: When you go back to them, say; Ibn ‘Umar has nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with him - three times. Then he said: ‘Umar bin al Khattab رضي الله عنه ­­ told me that whilst they were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ ­, a man came to him walking, with a handsome face and hair, wearing white clothes. The people looked at one another (as if to say): We do not know this man and he does not look like a traveller. Then he said: O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) , shall I come to you? He said: `Yes.` So he came and put his knees against his knees and his hands on his thighs and said: What is Islam? He said: `To testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) , to establish regular prayer, to give zakah, to fast Ramadan and to go on pilgrimage to the House.` He said: What is faith (eeman)? He said: “To believe in Allah, His angels, Paradise and Hell, resurrection after death and the divine decree, all of it.” He said: What is ihsan? He said: `To strive for the sake of Allah as if you see Him, and even though you do not see Him, He sees you.` He said: When will the Hour come? He said: `The one who is asked about it does not know more than the one who is asking.” He said: What are its portents? He said: `When the destitute, barefoot, naked shepherds compete in constructing lofty buildings, and the slave women give birth to their masters.” Then he said: `Call the man to me.” They looked for him but they saw no trace of him. Two or three days passed, then he said: “O Ibn al­ Khattab, do you know who that was who asked about such and such?” He said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: `That was Jibreel who came to teach you your religion.` A man from Juhainah or Muzainah asked him: O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) , what are we striving for? Is it something that is already decided or is it something that is evolving right now? He said:`For some-­thing that is already decided.` The man or one of the people said: O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) , then why should we strive? He said: “The people of Paradise will be enabled to do the deeds of the people of Paradise and the people of Hell will be enabled to do the deeds of the people of Hell.` Yahya said: And that is how it is.

We went out with the Prophet to the funeral of a man of the Ansar and came to the grave. It had not yet been dug, so God’s messenger sat down and we sat down around him quietly. He had in his hand a stick with which he was making marks on the ground. Then he raised his head and said, “Seek refuge in God from the punishment of the grave saying it twice or thrice. He then said, “When a believer is about to leave the world and go forward to the next world, angels with faces white as the sun come down to him from heaven with one of the shrouds of paradise and some of the perfume of paradise and sit away from him as far as the eye can see. Then the angel of death comes and sits at his head and says, 'Good soul, come out to forgiveness and acceptance from God.' It then comes out as a drop flows from a water-skin and he seizes it; and when he does so, they do not leave it in his hand for an instant, but take it and place it in that shroud and that perfume, and from it there comes forth a fragrance like that of the sweetest musk found on the face of the earth. They then take it up and do not bring it past a company of angels without their asking, “Who is this good soul?' to which they reply, ‘So and so, the son of so and so,’ using the best of his names by which people called him on the earth. They then bring him to the lowest heaven and ask that the gate should be opened for him. This is done, and from every heaven its archangels escort him to the next heaven till he is brought to the seventh heaven, and God who is great and glorious says, ‘Record the book of my servant in ‘Illiyun (Cf. Qur’an, lxxxiii, 18) and take him back to earth, for I created mankind from it, I shall return them into it, and from it I shall bring them forth another time.' His soul is then restored to his body, two angels come to him, and making him sit up say to him, ‘Who is your Lord?’ He replies, ‘My Lord is God.’ They ask, ‘What is your religion?’ and he replies, ‘My religion is Islam.’ They ask, ‘Who is this man who was sent among you?’ and he replies, ‘He is God’s messenger.’ They ask, ‘What is your [source of] knowledge?’ and he replies, ‘I have read God’s Book, believed in it and declared it to be true.’ Then one cries from heaven, ‘My servant has spoken the truth, so spread out carpets from paradise for him, clothe him from paradise, and open a gate for him into paradise.’ Then some of its joy and fragrance ...