Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 18696

Shurayh bin Ubayd narrates: Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) fell ill in "Hims". The governor of that city was Abdullah bin Qurt al-Azdi, and he did not come to visit him. A man from the Kala'iyyin came to visit Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him), and Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: "Can you write?" He replied: "Yes!" Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Write!" Then he dictated this letter for the governor Abdullah bin Qurt: "This is from Thawban, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah. To proceed: If there had been in your territory a freed slave of Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) or Sayyiduna Isa (peace be upon him), you would have visited him." Then he folded the letter and said to him: "Deliver this to the governor." He said: "Very well." Then that man took the letter and handed it over to the governor. When the governor read it, he stood up in alarm. The people asked: "What has happened to him? Has some new situation arisen?" The governor came to Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him), visited him and sat with him for a while. When he began to get up, Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) took hold of his cloak and said: "Sit down, so that I may tell you a hadith that I heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I heard him say: 'Seventy thousand people of my nation will enter Paradise in such a way that they will not be taken to account nor will they suffer any punishment, and along with every thousand of them there will be a further seventy thousand.'"
Ahmad recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in abridged form.