Muwatta 64

A hadith from the chapter "on ablution in general". Malik transmits it from al-Ala ibn Abd al-Rahman, from his father, from Abu Hurayra. It brings together visiting the graveyard, the meaning of brotherhood in faith, the mark of the community on the Day of Resurrection from the traces of ablution, and the Basin ¹.

The Prophet went out to the graveyard and greeted its people, saying: "Peace be upon you, abode of a believing people, and we, God willing, will be joining you." Then he said that he wished he could see his brothers. Those around him asked: "Are we not your brothers?" He answered: "You are my companions, and our brothers are those who have not yet come." He said that he would go before them to the Basin. They asked him how he would recognise those of his community who came after him. He gave them the example of a man who has horses with white foreheads and legs among pure black horses: would he not recognise his own horses? They said: yes. He said that they will come on the Day of Resurrection with bright faces and limbs, marked by ablution, and that he will call out to those driven away from his Basin as a stray camel is driven away. It will be said to him that they changed after him, and he will say: "Away with them, away, away, away" ^{1 2}.

The editor explains the "blaze" (ghurra) and "markings" (tahjil) as the whiteness on a horse's forehead and legs, and the intended meaning here as light on the faces and limbs of the community. He explains "duhm buhm" as black horses with no other colour mixed in, and "faraṭ" as one who goes ahead of the people to the water. He notes that Yahya transmitted "fa-la yadhudanna rajul" in the form of a prohibition, followed by Mutarrif and Ibn Nafi', while Abu Mus'ab, Ibn al-Qasim, Ibn Wahb and most transmitters of the Muwatta have "fa-l-yadhudanna" with the emphatic lam in the form of a statement. He notes that Yahya alone has the word "rajul" rather than "rijal". The hadith is traced through Malik's students in Muslim (1/151), Abu Dawud (3237), al-Nasa'i (1/93), Ibn Khuzayma (6), Ibn Hibban and Ahmad (2/375), and he refers to al-Tamhid (20/238). ²

The hadith is among the things commonly cited among Sunnis on the merit of ablution and on the conditions of the Hereafter: the Basin, the mark of the community, and visiting graves and greeting their people. ¹