The likeness of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and of those who obey him

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw in a dream that two angels came to him. One of them sat at his feet and the other sat at his head. The angel who was sitting at his feet said to the one at his head: Describe the example of him and of his Ummah! He said: The example of him and of his Ummah is like that of travellers who reach a place at the edge of a desert. They have no provisions with which to cross that desert, nor anything with which to go back from that place. While they are in this state, a man comes to them wearing a Yemeni striped garment. He says: What do you think, if I take you to green, lush meadows and water-filled pools, will you follow me? They answer: Yes! He takes them to the green, lush meadows and the water-filled pools, and they eat and drink there and grow plump. Then the man says to them: When I met you, you were in that state, and you agreed with me that if I took you to green, lush meadows and pools, you would follow me. They say: Indeed. The man says: Ahead of you are meadows that are greener and lusher than these, and pools that are better than these, so follow me! A group says: By Allah, he is telling the truth; we will follow him. And a group says: We are content with this, and we will stay here.
Imam Ahmad, al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar recorded it, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Rabi'ah al-Jurashi (may Allah be pleased with him) says: An angel came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and it was said to him: Your eyes are asleep, but your ears are hearing and your heart is understanding. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: My eyes were asleep, my ears were hearing and my heart was understanding. And it was said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): A master built a house, prepared a banquet and sent out an inviter. Whoever responds to the inviter will enter the house, eat from the banquet, and the master will be pleased with him; and whoever does not accept the inviter's invitation will not enter the house, will get nothing from the banquet, and the master will be displeased with him. The master is Allah Almighty, the inviter is Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the banquet is Paradise. The narrator says: After that he narrated the full report.
Al-Tabarani recorded it with a hasan (good) chain.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me to go along with him. The narrator says: We set out until we reached such-and-such a place. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drew a line on the ground for me and said: You must stay behind this; do not go beyond it, for if you go beyond it, you will be destroyed. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I stayed within it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went off as far as a pebble goes when it is thrown, or perhaps somewhat farther. The narrator says: Then he saw some people, as though they were the Zutt. Here the narrator Affan is in doubt. There were no clothes on their bodies, yet I could not see their private parts; they were tall people with little flesh on them. Those people came and crowded around the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) began reciting to them. Then they would come to me, circle around me and come in front of me. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I became extremely frightened of them, but I remained seated, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had instructed. When the time of true dawn came, they began to leave. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came, weighed down and in pain. The narrator is in doubt; perhaps the words are: he was nearly in pain, the reason being that those people had been around him. He said: I feel a heaviness, or however he (peace and blessings be upon him) said it. Then he placed his blessed head in my lap, or however the narrator described it. Then he said: Some people came who were wearing white garments and were tall, or however they described it. Meanwhile, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had fallen asleep. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I became more troubled than I had been the first time. Here the narrator Arim narrated these words in his report: They said to one another: Come, let us set forth an example for him, or however he said it. Then they said to one another: Set forth an example for them and we will explain it, or: we will set forth the example and you explain it. Then they said to one another: His example is like that of a master who builds a fortress and then invites people to food; whoever does not come to that food (the narrator is in doubt; perhaps the words are: whoever does not follow him) will be severely punished, or however they said it. The others said: As for the master, he is the Lord of the worlds; as for the building, it is Islam; the food is Paradise; and this man is the inviter: whoever follows him will enter Paradise. Here the narrator Arim narrated these words in his report, or however they said it: And whoever does not follow him will be punished, or however he said it. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) woke up and said: O Ibn Umm Abd, what did you see? Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I saw such and such. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Nothing of what they said was hidden from me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They were a group of angels (the narrator is in doubt; perhaps the words are:) they were angels, or whatever Allah willed (he said). (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Imam al-Tirmidhi recorded this report in abridged form.
Imam Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except Amr al-Bikali; al-Ijli mentioned him among the trustworthy Tabi'in, while Ibn Hibban and others mentioned him among the Companions.