The Sufficient (Vol 3) · Hadith 950 (#Ḥadīth #21)

21ـ أَبُو عَلِيٍّ الأشْعَرِيُّ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْجَبَّارِ عَنِ ابْنِ فَضَّالٍ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ عُقْبَةَ عَنْ أَسْبَاطِ بْنِ سَالِمٍ مَوْلَى أَبَانٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ يَعْلَمُ مَلَكُ الْمَوْتِ بِقَبْضِ مَنْ يَقْبِضُ قَالَ لاَ إِنَّمَا هِيَ صِكَاكٌ تَنْزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ اقْبِضْ نَفْسَ فُلاَنِ بْنِ فُلاَنٍ.

21. Abu Ali al-Ash’ariy has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar from ibn Faddal from Ali ibn ‘Uqbah from ‘Asbat ibn Salim Mawla Aban who has said the following: “I said to abu ‘Abd Allah , ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, does the angel of death know whose soul he has to remove from his body?’ He said, ‘No, he does not know. It is the ascribes who come down from the heavens and say, “Remove the soul of so and so, son of so and so.’””

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).