Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 11290

Ali bin Abdullah al-Azdi narrates from the narrator called "the Syrian" that he entered the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), offered two rak'ahs there, and made this supplication: "O Allah, give me companionship in my loneliness, have mercy on my being a stranger, join someone to my solitude, and grant me a righteous man through whom You benefit me." There was a man beside him. When he finished (the supplication), the Syrian said: "Who are you?" That man said: "Abu al-Darda'." He said: "What made you do what I saw?" So he told him about his supplication, and he said: "If you are truthful, then I am more fortunate through your supplication than you are. Shall I not narrate to you a hadith which I will give you as a gift? I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'Allah Almighty has said: "Then We made heirs to the Book those whom We had chosen from among Our servants."' (The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:) 'Those who are foremost are the ones who will enter Paradise without any reckoning'" Then the narrator mentioned the hadith as before.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and Ahmad recorded it in abridged form, and he said: It is narrated from al-A'mash from Thabit or Abu Thabit: "A man entered the mosque, that is, the mosque of Damascus" Then the narrator mentioned the whole hadith in abridged form, and he did not mention in it that anything was narrated from Allah Almighty. Thabit bin Ubayd and the narrators before him are the narrators of the Sahih. In the chain of al-Tabarani there is a narrator whose name has not been mentioned.