Then the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “It is near.

Then the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “It is near. I swear by the One in Whose Hand the life of Muhammad is, there was presented to me the Paradise and the Hellfire in the nook of this enclosure, and I did not see as much good and evil as I have seen today.”[^1] Imam Ahmad (d.

241 H) also records: حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا بن أبي عدي عن حميد عن أنس قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم Y لا تسألوني عن شيء إلى يوم القيامة الا حدثتكم قال فقال عبد الله بن حذافة يا رسول الله من أبي قال أبوك حذافة ‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad) – my father (Ahmad b. Hanbal) – Ibn Abi ‘Adi – Hamid – Anas: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “ You will not ask me about ANYTHING (that will occur) up till the Day of Resurrection except that I will tell you .” So, ‘Abd Allah b.

Hudhafah said, “O Messenger of Allah, who is my father?” He replied, “Your father is Hudhafah”.[^2] Shaykh al-Arnauṭ comments: إسناده صحيح على شرط الشيخين Its chain is sahih upon the standard of the two Shaykhs. ^3 These were momentous words. He offered them a challenge that was clearly beyond human capability. The Sahabah were awed.

They never fathomed the existence of a man who could answer any question about anything – any verse in any revealed scripture, any Sunnah of any prophet, any private secrets of anyone, science, medicine, technology, astronomy, and so on. Anything! Nothing whatsoever was excluded. They were challenged to ask anything about anything ! ‘Abd Allah b. Hudhafah exploited the opportunity to verify his paternity – which, of course, was part of “anything”.

The other Sahabah were too overwhelmed with awe to ask any question. The Prophet kept challenging them. But, all that they could do was weep. If anyone makes a similar challenge today, he would be humiliated immediately with very simple questions. The only creature that was capable of making the same challenge as the Messenger of Allah had done was none other than Amir al-Muminin, ‘alaihi al-salam .

This relevant athar is documented in Fadhail al-Sahabah of Imam Ahmad: حدثنا عبد الله نا عثمان بن أبي شيبة نا سفيان عن يحيى بن سعيد قال أراه عن سعيد : قال لم يكن أحد من أصحاب النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم يقول سلوني الا علي بن أبي طالب ‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad b. Hanbal) – ‘Uthman b. Abi Shaybah – Sufyan – Yahya b. Sa’id – Sa’id: “There was never anyone among the Sahabah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who used to say “Ask me!” except ‘Ali b. Abi Talib.[^4] Dr.