Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 18571

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) says: We prayed behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he stood for a long time. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, he would usually keep his standing short. During this prayer we heard him say: "O my Lord, and I am among them!" Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) stretched out his blessed hand as though he wanted to take hold of something. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went into bowing, and after that he completed the prayer quickly. When he gave the salam and sat down, we too sat around him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I know that you were troubled by my long standing." We said: "Yes, and we heard you say: 'O my Lord, and I am among them!'" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, everything you have been promised regarding the Hereafter was presented to me, even Hell was presented. Some of it came towards me until it was right opposite my place, and I feared that it might cover you. At that moment I said: 'O my Lord, and I am among them!' So Allah Almighty turned it away from you. A piece of it came that was like a carpet. I looked into it, and in it was Amr bin Hurthan of Banu Ghifar, leaning on his bow in Hell. And in it was also a woman of the tribe of Himyar who owned a cat. She had tied the cat up; she gave it nothing to eat or drink, nor did she let it loose so that it could eat something by itself, until the cat died in that state."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and the wording is his; part of this narration is mentioned in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains a narrator, Ibn Lahi'ah, and he is da'if (weak), though he has been declared trustworthy; the case of Bakr bin Sahl is the same, and the remaining narrators of this narration have been declared trustworthy.