Mention of the River of al-Baydakh in Paradise

Ahmad said: Ya'qub narrated to us: My father narrated to us, from Ibn Ishaq, from al-Harith ibn Fudayl al-Ansari, from Mahmud ibn Labid, from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

"The martyrs are by Bariq, a river at the gate of Paradise, inside a green pavilion. Their sustenance comes out to them from Paradise morning and evening."

In the hadith of the Night Journey (al-Isra'), concerning the mention of Sidrat al-Muntaha, he (ﷺ) said:

"Behold, from its base issued two hidden rivers and two apparent rivers. As for the two hidden ones, they are in Paradise, while the two apparent ones are the Nile and the Euphrates."

And in the Musnad of Ahmad and Sahih Muslim, with the wording belonging to Muslim, from the hadith of 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Umar, from Habib ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, from Hafs ibn 'Asim, from Abu Hurayrah (recorded here as Abu Barayzah), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Sayhan, Jayhan, the Euphrates, and the Nile are all among the rivers of Paradise."

Al-Hafiz al-Diya' narrated by way of 'Uthman ibn Sa'id ibn Sabiq, from Maslamah ibn 'Ali al-Khushani, from Muqatil ibn Hayyan, from 'Ikrimah, from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said:

"Allah sent down five rivers from Paradise: Sayhun, which is the river of India; Jayhun, which is the river of Balkh; the Tigris and the Euphrates, which are the two rivers of Iraq; and the Nile, which is the river of Egypt. Allah the Exalted sent them down from a single spring among the springs of Paradise, from its lowest level, upon the two wings of Gabriel. He then deposited them in the mountains, caused them to flow across the earth, and placed within them benefits for mankind for their various livelihoods. That is the meaning of His, the Exalted, saying: {And We sent down water from the sky in measured amount and settled it in the earth} [al-Mu'minun: 18].

When the emergence of Gog and Magog (Ya'juj and Ma'juj) occurs, Allah will send Gabriel, who will lift from the earth the Glorious Qur'an, all sacred knowledge, the Black Stone from the corner of the House at the Station of Ibrahim, the Ark of Moses with everything within it, and these five rivers. He will raise all of that to heaven. That is the meaning of His, the Exalted, saying: {And indeed, We are able to take it away} [al-Mu'minun: 18].

"When these things are raised from the earth, its inhabitants will be deprived of the goodness of both this world and the Hereafter."

This is an exceedingly strange (gharib jiddan) hadith; indeed, it is rejected (munkar). Maslamah ibn 'Ali is regarded as weak in hadith by the leading scholars...

Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, has described the rivers of Paradise as flowing abundantly, and that the people of Paradise will direct them wherever they wish, meaning they cause them to burst forth in whichever places they desire, with springs gushing for them through varied channels and streams of water. Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "There is no spring in Paradise except that it gushes forth from beneath a mountain of musk."