Bayan Al-Hadith › Sahih Muslim › The Book of the Merits of the Companions
Sahih Muslim 2444cصحيح مسلم 2444c
وَحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، وَابْنُ، بَشَّارٍ - وَاللَّفْظُ لاِبْنِ الْمُثَنَّى - قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ، بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، قَالَتْ كُنْتُ أَسْمَعُ أَنَّهُ لَنْ يَمُوتَ نَبِيٌّ حَتَّى يُخَيَّرَ بَيْنَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ - قَالَتْ - فَسَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي مَرَضِهِ الَّذِي مَاتَ فِيهِ وَأَخَذَتْهُ بُحَّةٌ يَقُولُ { مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ وَحَسُنَ أُولَئِكَ رَفِيقًا} قَالَتْ فَظَنَنْتُهُ خُيِّرَ حِينَئِذٍ .
'A'isha reported: I heard that never a prophet dies until he is given an option to opt the life of (this) world or that of the Hereafter. She further said: I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) say in his last illness in which he' died. I heard him saying in gruffness of the voice: Along with those persons upon whom Allah bestowed favours from amongst the Apostles, the testifiers of truth, the martyrs, the pious and goodly company are they (iv. 69). (It was on bearing these words) that I thought that he had been given choice (and he opted to live with these pious persons in the Paradise).
Grading
Sahih (authentic by the consensus of hadith scholars)
Chain of narrators
محمد بن المثنى بن عبيد ← محمد بن جعفر ← شعبة بن الحجاج بن الورد ← سعد بن إبراهيم ← عروة بن الزبير بن العوام ← عائشة بنت أبي بكر الصديق
Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna ibn Ubayd → Muhammad ibn Ja'far → Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj ibn al-Ward → Sa'd ibn Ibrahim → `Urwa → `Aisha