Musnad Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili 117:155

Abu al-Jahm al-Azraq ibn Ali narrated to us, Yahya ibn Abi Bukayr narrated to us, Abbad ibn Kathir narrated to us, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would miss a man from his brothers for three days, he would ask about him. If he was absent, he would pray for him; if he was present, he would visit him; and if he was sick, he would call upon him. He missed a man from the Ansar on the third day and asked about him. It was said, "O Messenger of Allah, we left him like a chick; nothing enters his head except that it exits from his rear." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to some of his companions, "Visit your brother." He said: So we went out with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to visit him, and among the people were Abu Bakr and Umar. When we entered upon him, he was as he had been described to us. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "How do you find yourself?" He said, "Nothing enters my head except that it exits from my rear." He said, "And why is that?" He said, "O Messenger of Allah, I passed by you while you were praying Maghrib, and I prayed with you while you were reciting this Surah, 'Al-Qari'ah, what is Al-Qari'ah?' until the end of it, 'a scorching fire.' I said, 'O Allah, whatever sin I have for which You would punish me in the Hereafter, hasten its punishment for me in this world.' So what you see befell me." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Evil is what you said. Why did you not ask Allah to give you good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect you from the punishment of the Fire?" He said: So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded him, and he prayed with that, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed for him. He said: So he stood up as if he had been released from a tether. He said: When we went out, Umar said, "O Messenger of Allah, you urged us just now to visit the sick, so what is for us in that?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Indeed, when a Muslim man goes out from his house to visit his Muslim brother, he wades into mercy up to his waist. When he sits with the sick person, mercy covers him and mercy covers the sick person. The sick person is in the shade of His Throne, and the visitor is in the shade of His Holiness. Allah says to His angels, 'Look at how long they have stayed with the sick person, the visitors.' They say, 'O Lord, a short while; if they have stayed a short while.' Allah says to His angels, 'Write for My servant who visited the worship of a thousand years, standing its night and fasting its day, and inform him that I have not written a single sin against him.'" He said: And He says to His angels, "Look at how long they have stayed." They say, "An hour." He said, "If they have stayed an hour, then say: Write for him a *dahr* (an age), and the *dahr* is ten thousand years. If he dies before that, he enters Paradise, and if he lives, not a single sin is written against him. If it is morning, seventy thousand angels pray for him until he reaches evening, and he is in the gardens of Paradise. And if it is evening, seventy thousand angels pray for him until he reaches morning, and he is in the gardens of Paradise."