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CHARACTER ATTESTATION

964

“I (Abu Aswad) visited Medina and was sitting with Omar the son of Khattab when a funeral passed and those present praised the goodness of the deceased. Upon this Omar said, ‘It has become incumbent.’ Then another funeral passed and those present praised the goodness of the deceased. Again Omar said, ‘It has become incumbent.’ Then a third funeral passed and those present condemned the wickedness of the deceased. Omar said again, ‘It has become incumbent.’ Upon this I inquired, ‘Commander of the Faithful, what is it that has become incumbent?’ He answered, ‘I repeated only that which the Holy Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, said and he said, ‘Allah will admit into Paradise any Muslim whose goodness is attested to by four people.’ We asked, ‘What if there is only three?’ He answered, ‘Even if there are only three.’ Then we asked, ‘What if there is only two?’ He answered, ‘Even if there are only two.’ We refrained from asking him about one.”

Bukhari with a chain up to Abu Aswad who related this.