The people of the Jahiliyyah

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "The first to begin setting animals free in the name of idols and worshipping idols was Amr bin Amir, the forefather of Khuza'ah. I saw him dragging his intestines in Hell."
Ahmad recorded it; its chain contains Ibrahim al-Hajari, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The first person who made a change in the religion of Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was Amr bin Luhayy bin Qam'ah bin Khindif, the forefather of Khuza'ah."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Its chain contains Salih, the freed slave of al-Taw'amah, who was declared weak because of his mental deterioration (ikhtilat); however, Ibn Abi Dhi'b heard from him before his deterioration, and this narration is one of those that Ibn Abi Dhi'b narrated from him.

Alqamah relates: We were sitting with Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) when Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) came in. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "Are you the one who narrates that a woman was punished because of a cat which she had tied up, and she would neither give it anything to eat nor anything to drink?" Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I heard it from him" (by this Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah meant the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)). Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "Do you know who that woman was? Along with what she did, that woman was also a disbeliever. The believer is too honoured before Allah Almighty for Allah to punish him because of a cat. When you narrate a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then examine what you are narrating."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Abu Razin al-Uqayli narrates this statement of his paternal uncle: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, where is my mother?" He said: "Your mother is in Hell." The narrator relates: I asked: "Where are those of your family who have passed away (from this world)?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Are you not pleased that your mother is with my mother?"
Ahmad recorded it, al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: We were (travelling) with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He (peace and blessings be upon him) halted at a place, and there were about a thousand of us riders with him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed two rak'ahs, then he turned his face towards us, and tears were flowing from his eyes. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, came to him and said: "May my mother and father be sacrificed for you," and asked: "O Messenger of Allah, what is the matter with you?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I asked my Lord for permission to seek forgiveness for my mother, but He did not permit me. So my eyes shed tears out of mercy for her, that she will go to Hell."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: We were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until we reached the place called "Waddan" (the narrator is unsure; perhaps the words are:) reached some graves. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated for intercession for his mother (the narrator relates: I think the narration also contains these words:) and Sayyiduna Jibril (peace be upon him) struck the chest of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "Do not seek forgiveness for one who died as an idolater."
Al-Bazzar recorded it and said: No one narrated it with this chain except Muhammad bin Jabir from Simak bin Harb. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: I have not seen anyone who mentions this narrator, Muhammad bin Jabir.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) relates: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned from the Battle of Tabuk and set out for Umrah, and he came down from the mountain pass of "Usfan", he ordered his Companions to rest leaning against the pass until "I come back to you." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went and stopped at the grave of his mother. He (peace and blessings be upon him) engaged in long intimate supplication with his Lord, then he began to weep and wept intensely, so much so that, because of his weeping, the other people also began to weep. The people said: "Why has the Prophet of Allah wept at this place? The reason must be that something has occurred concerning his Ummah that he cannot bear." When the people also began weeping, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and came back to them, and asked: "Why are you weeping?" They said: "O Prophet of Allah, we are weeping because of your weeping. We said: Perhaps something new has occurred concerning your Ummah which you cannot bear (or seeing which you could not control yourself)." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No (that is, it is not so), though some of it has happened. But I came to this grave and supplicated to Allah Almighty to permit me to intercede for her on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah Almighty refused to permit me. So I felt mercy for this woman, because she is my mother, and I began to weep. Then Jibril came to me and said (that is, he recited these verses): 'And Ibrahim's seeking forgiveness for his father was only because of a promise he had made to him; but when it became clear to him (Ibrahim) that he was an enemy of Allah, he (Ibrahim) dissociated himself from him.'" (Sayyiduna Jibril (peace be upon him) said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):) "So you (peace and blessings be upon him) also dissociate yourself from your mother just as Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him) dissociated himself from his father." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: "So I felt mercy for her, because she is my mother." (He (peace and blessings be upon him) also said:) "I supplicated to my Lord to lift four things from my Ummah. He lifted two things from them and refused to lift two things from them. I supplicated to my Lord to lift from them being stoned from the sky and being drowned (that is, swallowed up) in the earth, (and I supplicated) that Allah Almighty not divide them into different factions and not make them taste destruction at one another's hands. Allah Almighty lifted from them being stoned from the sky and being swallowed up in the earth, and Allah Almighty refused to lift two things from them: killing and turmoil (harj)." (The narrator relates:) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned aside from the common route to go to his mother's grave, because his mother was buried at such-and-such a place, and this was at the place of "Usfan".
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain mentions that Abu al-Darda' and Abd al-Ghaffar bin al-Munib narrated it from Ishaq bin Abdullah, from his father, from Ikrimah; but apart from Ikrimah I do not know any of the other narrators, nor have I seen anyone who mentions them.

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) used to relate that his father Husayn came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "What is your view about a man who used to honour guests and maintain ties of kinship, and he died before you, and that man is your father?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "My father, your father and you will be in Hell." The narrator relates: Husayn died as an idolater.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: A Bedouin came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, where is my father?" He said: "In Hell." He asked: "Where is your father?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whenever you pass by the grave of a disbeliever, give him the tidings of Hell."
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and he recorded these additional words: "The Bedouin accepted Islam, and he would say: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has charged me with a toilsome task: whenever I pass by the grave of a disbeliever, I give him the tidings of Hell." Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "On the Day of Resurrection a man will take hold of his father's hand to stop him from going into Hell; he will intend to admit him into Paradise. Then it will be announced: 'No idolater will enter Paradise; indeed Allah Almighty has made Paradise forbidden for every idolater.' That man will say: 'O my Lord, my father! (That is, what will become of him?)' Then his father's form will be changed and made extremely ugly, and his smell will become foul, so that man will leave him (that is, leave his father)." The narrator relates: The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) held the view that this man is Sayyiduna Ibrahim (peace be upon him), but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said only that (whose words we have recorded).
Abu Ya'la and al-Bazzar recorded it, and the narrators of both are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "On the Day of Resurrection a man will meet his father and say: 'O my dear father, will you obey me today? Will you follow me today?' His father will reply: 'Yes.' So that man will take his father by the hand and bring him into the presence of Allah Almighty, Who will be attending to the creation. That man will say: 'O my Lord, You promised me that You would not disgrace me.' The Lord will turn away from that man. Then that man will say something similar, so Allah Almighty will transform his father into the shape of a hyena and then cast him into Hell. His father will say: 'I am your father,' and he will say: 'I do not know you.'"
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), the noble wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), relates: "Al-Harith bin Hisham came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of the Farewell Pilgrimage and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, you encourage maintaining ties of kinship, treating the neighbour well, looking after the orphan, feeding the guest and feeding the poor; all of these things (my father) Hisham bin al-Mughirah used to do. O Messenger of Allah, what is your view about him?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Every occupant of a grave (that is, whoever among the dead) did not testify that there is no god but Allah, that grave will be a piece of Hell. I found my uncle Abu Talib in the deepest part of Hell, and because of his relation to me and his good treatment of me, Allah Almighty took him out of that place and placed him in the upper part of Hell.'"
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqil, who is munkar al-hadith (his narrations are rejected); people do not use his hadith as evidence, although he has been declared trustworthy.

Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) relates: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, my paternal uncle Hisham bin al-Mughirah used to feed people, maintain ties of kinship, and do this and that. Had he lived to see your (peace and blessings be upon him) time, he would have become Muslim." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He used to give for the sake of the world, for the praise of the world and to be talked about in the world. Not even on a single day did he ever say: 'O Allah, forgive my sins on the Day of Recompense.'"
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Salamah bin Yazid al-Ju'fi (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: My brother, my father and I set out to present ourselves before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We said: "O Messenger of Allah, our mother Mulaykah used to maintain ties of kinship, honour guests, and do this and that. She died in the period of Ignorance. Will this (that is, doing good deeds) benefit her?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No." The narrator relates: We said: "That woman had buried a sister of hers alive; will this be of any benefit to her?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The woman who buries alive and the one buried alive will go to Hell, except that if the woman who buried alive lives to see Islam, then perhaps Allah Almighty will pardon her."
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih; al-Tabarani recorded a similar narration in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir.

Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father used to maintain ties of kinship and used to do such-and-such things." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Your father intended something and he attained it." (The narrator relates:) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) meant being mentioned (that is, fame).
Ahmad recorded it, its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir.

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: Adi bin Hatim came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father used to maintain ties of kinship, bear the burdens of others and feed people." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Did he live to see Islam?" Sayyiduna Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: "No." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Your father loved to be mentioned, and so he was mentioned."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains Rishdin bin Sa'd, who is matruk al-hadith (abandoned).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) relates: Hatim al-Ta'i was mentioned in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: "He was a man who intended something (that is, gaining fame), and he attained it."
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains Ubayd bin Waqid al-Qaysi, whom Abu Hatim declared da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Salamah bin Amir al-Dabbi (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, my father used to maintain ties of kinship, honour guests and fulfil his pledges of protection." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Did he not live to see Islam?" I replied: "No." When I turned to leave, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Bring the old man to me." He said: "This (that is, the habit of generosity) will remain in your descendants; you will always remain upon it and will never be separated."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators have been declared trustworthy.

Sayyiduna Afif al-Kindi (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: Once we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a delegation from Yemen arrived. They mentioned Imru' al-Qays bin Hujr al-Kindi (the famous poet of the period of Ignorance) and quoted two lines from his poetry in which a spring among the waters of the Arabs was mentioned. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He is a man who is mentioned in this world and will be forgotten in the Hereafter; he is honoured in this world and will be disgraced in the Hereafter. When he comes on the Day of Resurrection, he will have the banner of the poets with him, and he will lead them (the poets), taking them towards Hell."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir by way of Sa'd bin Farwah bin Afif, from his father, from his grandfather, and I have not seen anyone who gives their biographies.