70,000 people will enter Paradise without torment
20-9-2003 | IslamWeb
Question:
I read the following Hadith: Abu Umama (R.A) narrates: Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said, "Allah has promised me that from my Ummah (70,000) people will enter Paradise without reckoning or torment. And for every (1000) increase, there will be (70,000) people and excluding this Allah will make people, equivalent to 3 times of His both hands (Palms) put together enter Paradise without reckoning". (Musnad Ahmed). I want to know: (1) Is the above Hadith authentic? (2) Are there any other reports like this reported in other books of Hadith? (3) Who will be those lucky people?
Answer:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions. The Hadith (Prophet's saying) referred to in the question is an authentic one, narrated by Imam al-Bukhari , Muslim , Ahmad , al-Baihaqi , Abu Ya'la , at-Tabarani , Ibn Hibban , Ibn Abi Shaibah , Al-Haakim and others. And it is enough for this Hadith that it is of the highest degree of authenticity. It is a long Hadith reported by Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). Here we will extract the part of it which is the point of the question: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: …and it was said to me, 'look in this and that direction of the horizon. I looked and saw immense blackness filling the horizon. I was told that this is my nation (fellow Muslims) and that seventy thousand of this nation will admitted to Paradise without account. Upon mentioning that, the companions asked the Prophet about those seventy thousand ones. He answered: They are those who do not seek Ruqya (treatment of physical or psychological diseases using certain Qur'anic verses or authentic supplications from the Sunnah - Prophet's tradition) [i.e. they prefer being patient at trials and tests to seeking treatment], nor practice - or believe in - divinations, nor use cauterization, rather on their Lord do they put their trust. Those people are the fortunate ones whose descriptions were stated by the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) as the main cause (after Allah's Grace) for being admitted to Paradise without account or punishment. The meaning of "do not seek Ruqya" is that they do not go to others to treat them by Ruqya (explained above) to ward off some inflictions such as fever, epilepsy, envy, and sorcery. The meaning of "do not practice (or believe in) divinations" is that they do not link some animals like the owl or some people or certain days etc., with bad omens. As for the phrase, "nor use cauterization", it means that they never use cauterization with fire or electricity as a way of treating some diseases how painful the sickness may be. "On their Lord do they put their trust" means that they submit their affairs to Allah after following causes and lawful means. One must know, however, that to seek Ruqya from others is permissible and using cauterization is also permissible but only as a final resort. But those who seek such solutions will not be among those mentioned in the Hadith (the seventy thousand). Allah knows best.