Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Layla narrates that Sayyiduna Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to visit Sayyiduna al-Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both), and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: "Have you come to visit the sick, or have you come to gloat out of enmity?" He said: Rather, I have come to visit the sick. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If you have come to visit the sick, then listen: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: Whoever goes to visit his brother is among the picked fruits of the gardens of Paradise; when he sits down, mercy covers him; if it is the morning, seventy thousand angels pray for him until the evening, and if it is the evening, seventy thousand angels pray for him until the morning." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it because of a disagreement concerning al-Hakam bin Utaybah.

Abdullah bin Nafi' narrates that Sayyiduna Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) visited Sayyiduna al-Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) while Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was present. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Have you come to pay a visit, or to visit the sick?" He said: To visit the sick. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "There is no Muslim who visits a sick person except that seventy thousand angels go out with him to escort him; if he goes in the morning, they escort him until the evening, and he will have a garden in Paradise; and if he goes in the evening, seventy thousand angels escort him until the morning, and he will have a garden in Paradise." This is of the type I have mentioned more than once: one narration does not constitute a defect ('illah) in the other, because Abu Mu'awiyah is the best in memorisation among the students of al-A'mash, and al-A'mash knew the hadith of al-Hakam better than others.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever visits a sick person continues wading through mercy (until he arrives) until he sits down, and when he sits down (beside the sick person), he becomes fully immersed in that mercy." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not force your sick to eat (and drink), for Allah Almighty Himself feeds them and gives them drink." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Muslim, but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

Yahya bin Talhah bin Ubaydullah narrates from his father that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) saw him (Talhah) looking sorrowful and asked: What is the matter with you? Perhaps the leadership of your cousin (Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him) has displeased you? He replied: No (and he praised Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him); rather, the matter is that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "There is a word which no servant says at the time of his death except that Allah relieves his distress and his complexion becomes radiant." Nothing prevented me from asking him (peace and blessings be upon him) about that word except that I felt able to ask it (at any time), until he (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away. At this Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I know that word. Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: What is it? Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Do you know of any word greater than the word which he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded his uncle to say, namely 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god but Allah)? Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah! That is the very word. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it. As for the error that Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab made in narrating it from Mis'ar (that is a separate matter).

Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), relating a hadith to Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "I know a word which no servant says truly from his heart and then dies, except that the Fire (of Hell) is made forbidden for him." But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away without having told us (clearly) about that word. Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will tell you about it; it is the word of sincerity (kalimat al-ikhlas) which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded his uncle Abu Talib to say at the time of (Abu Talib's) death, namely bearing witness that "there is no god but Allah," and it is the word by which Allah honoured Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it with this wording; rather, Imam Muslim alone recorded the narration of Khalid al-Hadhdha' from al-Walid bin Muslim that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever dies knowing that there is no god but Allah will enter Paradise."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever's last words are 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god but Allah) will enter Paradise." This hadith has an authentic chain (sahih al-isnad), but the two Shaykhs did not record it. I had dictated the account of Abu Zur'ah, whose last words were his narration of the chain of this very hadith.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Atik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to visit Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) and found him unconscious. He (peace and blessings be upon him) called out to him, but he did not answer. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recited 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un' (We belong to Allah and to Him we return) and said: "O Abu al-Rabi'! We have been overcome in your matter." At this the women began to cry out and weep, and Ibn Atik began to silence them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Leave them (to weep), but when 'wajaba' (the inevitable) happens, then let no weeping woman weep." The people said: O Messenger of Allah! What is meant by 'wujub'? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When he dies." Then his daughter said: By Allah! I had hoped that you would be a martyr, for you had already prepared your equipment for jihad. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah has granted him his reward according to his intention. And what do you count as martyrdom?" They said: Being killed in the path of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Apart from being killed in the path of Allah, there are seven kinds of martyrdom: the one who dies of plague is a martyr; the one who drowns is a martyr; the one who dies of pleurisy (dhat al-janb, a disease of the lungs) is a martyr; the one who dies of a disease of the stomach is a martyr; the one who is burned to death is a martyr; the one who dies crushed under a collapsed building is a martyr; and the woman who dies while pregnant or during childbirth is a martyr." This hadith has an authentic chain (sahih al-isnad), but the two Shaykhs did not record it. Its narrators are Madinans of Quraysh, and in my view, in the collection of Imam Malik's hadith compiled by Imam Muslim, the hadith of Imam Malik's shaykhs begin with this very hadith.

Sayyiduna Shaddad bin Aws (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When you are present with a dying person, close his eyes (after he dies), for the sight follows the soul, and say (at that time) only what is good, for the angels say Amin to the supplication of the household." This hadith has an authentic chain (sahih al-isnad), but the two Shaykhs did not record it.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, when the time of death comes to the believer, the angels of mercy come with a white silk cloth and say: (O soul!) Come out, pleased and well-pleasing, to the mercy of Allah and fragrance, and to your Lord who is not angry with you. So the soul comes out like the finest scent of musk, so much so that the angels pass it to one another and smell it, until they bring it to the gate of the heaven, and they say: What a pure fragrance this is that has come to you from the earth! At whichever heaven they arrive, its angels say the same, until they bring it to the souls of the believers. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They are happier at its arrival than any of you is at the return of someone who was absent. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They ask it: What did so-and-so do? The angels say: Leave it so that it may rest, for it was in the grief and worry of the world. Then, when the soul says to them: Did he not come to you, when he has already died? they say: He has been taken to his abode, 'Hawiyah' (the Abyss). He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: As for the disbeliever, the angels of punishment come to him and say: Come out, displeased and displeasing, to the punishment of Allah and His wrath. So the soul comes out like the foulest stench of a carcass. Then they take it to the gate of the earth and say: What a foul stench this is! Whichever land they pass by, its angels say the same, until they bring it to the souls of the disbelievers."