Shal b. Sa'd reported God's messenger as saying, "I shall go to the Pond before you; he who comes to me will drink, and he who drinks will never thirst. Folk whom I know and who know me will come down to me, but something will come between them and me. I shall say that they belong to me, but I shall be told that I do not know what innovations they have produced since I departed from them. I shall then say, `Destruction, destruction to those who have made changes since my departure'!" (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas reported the Prophet as saying, "The believers will be restrained on the day of resurrection so that they will be concerned about that and express a desire to find an intercessor with their Lord that He may relieve them from the position in which they are placed. They will go to Adam and say, `You are Adam, the father of mankind, whom God created by His hand, whom He caused to dwell in His garden, to whom He made the angels do obeisance, and whom He taught the names of everything. Intercede for us with your Lord so that He may relieve us from this position in which we are placed.' But he, mentioning the sin he committed by eating of the tree when he had been forbidden to do so, will reply, `I am not in a position to do that for you; go to Noah, the first prophet God sent to the inhabitants of the earth.' They will then go to Noah and he, mentioning the sin he committed by making request of his Lord without knowledge, [1] will say, `I am not in a position to do that for you, but go to Abraham, the friend of the Compassionate One.' They will then go to Abraham and he, mentioning three lies he told, will say, `I am not in a position to do that for you, but go to Moses, a servant to whom God brought, the Torah, to whom He spoke, and whom He brought near Him as a confidant.' They will then go to Moses and he, mentioning the sin he committed when he took a life, will say, `I am not in a position to do that for you, but go to Jesus, God's servant and messenger, God's spirit and word.' They will then go to Jesus and he will say, `I am not in a position to do that for you, but go to Muhammad, a servant whose former and latter sins have been forgiven him by God.' They will then come to me and I shall ask permission to enter my Lord's abode. When this is granted and I see Him I shall fall down in prostration, and God will leave me as long as He wishes to do so. He will then say, `Rise, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make intercession, it will be accepted, and if you make a request, it will be granted.' I shall then raise my head and extol and laud my Lord in a manner He will teach me. I shall then make intercession, but He will appoint a limit for me after which I shall go out, bring them forth from hell and bring them into paradise. I shall return a second time and ask permission to enter my Lord's abode. When this is granted and I see Him I shall fall down in prostration, and God will leave me as long as He wishes to do so. He will then say, `Rise, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make intercession, it will be accepted, and if you make a request, it will be granted.' I shall then raise my head and extol and laud my Lord in a manner He will teach me. I shall then make intercession, but He will appoint a limit for me after which I shall go out, bring them forth from hell and bring them into paradise. I shall then return a third time and ask permission to enter my Lord's abode. When this is granted and I see Him I shall fall down in prostration, and God will leave me as long as He wishes to do so. He will then say, `Rise, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make intercession, it will be accepted, and if you make a request, it will be granted.' I shall then raise my head and extol and laud my Lord in a manner He will teach me. I shall then make intercession, but He will appoint a limit for me after which I shall go out, bring them forth from hell and bring them into paradise, till there will remain in hell only those restrained by the Quran, i.e., those doomed to eternal punishment." He then recited this verse, "It may be that your Lord will raise you up in a praiseworthy position [2] ." He said, "And this praiseworthy position is that which He promised your prophet." Quran; 11:45 Quran; 17:79 (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God's messenger as saying, "When the day of resurrection comes mankind will be in confusion and will go to Adam and say, `Intercede with your Lord,' and he will reply, `I am not capable, but go to Abraham, for he is the friend of the Compassionate One.' They will go to Abraham and he will say, `I am not capable, but go to Moses, for he is God's interlocutor.' They will then go to Moses and he will say, `I am not capable, but go to Jesus, for he is God's spirit and word.' They will then go to Jesus and he will say, `I am not capable, but go to Muhammad.' Then they will come to me and, saying I am capable, I shall ask permission to enter my Lord's presence. When this is granted He will teach me certain utterances of praise which I do not know at present, and I shall use them and fall down prostrating myself. Then will be said, `Raise your head, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make a request it will be granted, and if you make intercession it will be accepted." I shall then say, `0 my Lord, my people, my people,' and shall be told to go away and bring forth from hell those in whose hearts there is as much faith as a grain of barley. I shall go and do so, after which I shall return and use those utterances of praise, then fall down prostrating myself Then will be said, `Raise your head, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make a request it will be granted, and if you make intercession it will be accepted.' I shall then say, `0 my Lord, my people, my people,' and shall be told to go away and bring forth from hell those in whose hearts there is as much faith as a mote or a grain of mustard-seed. I shall go and do so, after which I shall return and use those utterances of praise, then fall down prostrating myself. Then will be said, `Raise your head, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make a request it will be granted, and if you make intercession it will be accepted.' I shall then say, `0 my Lord, my people, my people, and shall be told to go away and bring forth from hell those in whose hearts there is as much faith as the smallest smallest, smallest grain of mustard-seed. I shall go and do so, after which I shall return a fourth time and use those utterances of praise then fall down prostrating myself. Then will be said, `Raise your head, Muhammad. If you speak you will be listened to, if you make a request it will be granted, arid if you make intercession it will be accepted.' I shall then say, `0 my Lord, grant me permission regard - ing those who have said there is no god but God,' and He will reply, `You have no business with this, but by my might, glory, pride and greatness, I will certainly bring out of it those who have said there is no god but God'." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, "The one who will be most fortunate by reason of my intercession on the day of resurrection will be the one who says there is no god but God sincerely from his heart," or, "his soul." Bukhari transmitted it.

He told that once when the Prophet was brought some meat and was offered the foreleg, which was a part he liked, he bit off a piece of it and then said, ``I shall be the lord of mankind on the day of resurrection, the day when mankind will stand up before the Lord of the universe and the sun will draw near. Mankind will then experience a degree of care and anxiety which they will be unable to bear, so they will ask one another whether they cannot see anyone who may intercede for them with their Lord and will go to Adam." He then mentioned the tradition about intercession and said, "I shall then set off and come below the Throne and fall down prostrating myself before my Lord, and after God has revealed to me some utterances of His praise and of a worthy manner of extolling Him which He had not revealed to anyone before me He will say, `Raise your head, Muhammad. If you make a request, it will be granted, and if you make intercession, it will be accepted.' I shall then raise my head and say, `My people, O my Lord; my people, O my Lord; my people, O my Lord,' and the reply will be given, `Bring in by the right gate of paradise, Muhammad, those of your people who are not taken into account, though they may equally enter by other gates along with mankind'." He then said, "By Him in whose hand my soul is, the distance between the two halves of the gates of paradise is like that between Mecca and Hajar." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

In the tradition about intercession Hudhaifa reported God's messenger as saying, "Fidelity and ties of relationship will be sent and will stand on the two sides of the path, right and left." Muslim transmitted it.

`Abdallah b. `Amr b. al- `As told that the Prophet recited the words of God most high in [sura] Ibrahim, "My Lord, they have indeed led astray many people, but he who follows me belongs to me [1] and the words of Jesus, "If Thou dost punish them they are Thy servants [2] ," then, raising his hands, he said, "0 God, my people, my people," and wept. God most high then said, "Go to Muhammad, Gabriel although your Lord is best informed, and ask him what is making him weep." Gabriel then went to him and asked him, and God's messenger informed him of what he had said. God most high then said to Gabriel, "Go to Muhammad and tell him that We shall please him and not grieve him concerning his people." 1. Quran, 14:36. 2. Quran, 5:118. Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri told that when some people asked God's messenger whether they would see their Lord on the day of resurrection he replied, "Yes. Do you disagree about seeing the sun at noonday when it is unconcealed and there are no clouds, or do you disagree about seeing the moon on the night when it is full when it is unconcealed and there are no clouds?" On their replying that they did not, he said, "You will not disagree about the vision of God on the day of resurrection any more than you do about seeing one of them. When the day of resurrection comes a mu'adhdhinwill cry, `Let every people follow what it was worshipping.' Then all who worshipped idols and stones apart from God will fall one after the other into hell, and when only the righteous and wicked who worshipped God are left the Lord of the universe will come to them and say, `What are you waiting for? Let every people follow what it was worshipping.' They will reply, `Our Lord, we kept separate from the people in the world though we felt great need of them, and did not associate with them.'

In Abu Huraira's version they will say, `This is our place till our Lord comes to us, and when our Lord comes to us we shall recognize Him.' In Abu Sa'id's version He will say, `Is there a sign between you and Him by which you will recognize Him? On their replying that there is, things will be made plain [1] . Those who prostrated themselves before God for His sake will all be permitted by God to prostrate themselves, but those who prostrated themselves for self-protection and show will all have their backs made into one piece by God and will fall on the back of their necks as often as they wish to prostrate themselves. The bridge will then he set up over Jahannam and intercession will be allowed, and they [2] will say, `O God, keep safe, keep safe.' The believers will then pass over like the twinkling of an eye, like lightning, like wind, like a bird, like the finest horses and camels. Some will escape and be kept safe, some will be lacerated and let go, and some will be pushed into the fire of Jahannam. Then when the believers are safe from hell, I swear by Him in whose hand my soul is that none of you is more eager to claim a right when it has become clear to you than those who believe in God will be on the day of resurrection to make claims on behalf of their brethren who are in hell. They will say, `0 our Lord, they were fasting along with us, praying and performing pilgrimage, and will be told to bring out those they recognize. Their faces will be protected from the fire and they will bring forth a large number of people, then say, `O our Lord, not one of those about whom Thou didst give us command remains in it.' He will reply, `Go back and bring forth those in whose hearts you find as much as a dinar of good.' When they have brought forth a large number of people He will say, `Go back and bring forth those in whose hearts you find as much as half a dinar of good.' When they have brought forth a large number of people He will say, 'Go back and bring forth those in whose hearts you find as much as an atom of good.' When they have brought forth a large number of people they will say, `O our Lord, we have not left in it any good.' Then God will say, 'The angels have interceded, the prophets have interceded, the believers have interceded, and only the Most Merciful of the merciful ones remains.' He will then take a handful from hell, bring forth from it people who never did any good, who have been turned into charcoal and cast them into a river at the outskirts of paradise called the river of life. They will come out as a seed comes out from the rubbish carried away by a flood, and they will come forth like pearls with seals on their necks. The inhabitants of paradise will say, `Those are they who have been set free by the Compassionate One who has brought them into paradise without anything they have done or any good they have sent before them.' They will then be told that theirs is what they see and a like quantity along with it." Quran, 48:42 The reference is either to the beginning of terrors, or to the end of all mystery. The second of the two meanings given seems to fit this passage. Presumably the Prophets, but later in this tradition reference is made to intercession having been made by angels, prophets and believers. Abu Huraira's tradition however states that the messenger will say these words. Bukhari and Muslim.

He reported God's messenger as saying, "When the inhabitants of paradise enter paradise and the inhabitants of hell enter hell God most high will say, `Bring forth those in whose hearts there is as much faith as a grain of mustard-seed.' They will then be brought forth burned and turned to charcoal and be cast into the river of life, and they will sprout as does a seed in the rubbish carried away by a flood. Have you not seen that it comes out yellow and twisted?" (Bukhari and Muslim.)