ii. Sahl ibn Sa‘d (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, 'I will reach the cistern ahead of you. He who comes to me will drink, and whoever drinks will never thirst again. There will come towards me some people whom I will recognize and they will recognize me, then they will be prevented from reaching me.'" Abu Hazim said, "And I heard al-Nu‘man ibn Abi ‘Ayyash say, when I was narrating this hadith to them: Is this how you heard it from Sahl? I said: Yes. And I bear witness that I heard Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri add to it: “Then I will say: ‘They belong to me.’ But it will be said: ‘You do not know what they did after you were gone.’ And I will say, ‘Away, away with the one who changed after I was gone.’” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

iii. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, "My cistern will be bigger than the distance between Aylah and ‘Aden. It will be whiter than snow and sweeter than honey mixed with milk, and its vessels will be more numerous than the stars. I will bar the people from approaching it as a man bars the people’s camels from approaching his cistern." They said, "O Messenger of Allah, will you recognize us on that Day?" He said, "Yes, you will have a mark that none of the other nations will have. You will come to me with bright faces and limbs because of the traces of wudu." (Muslim)

iv. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, 'My cistern is the size of a month’s journey, its water is whiter than milk, its fragrance is more pleasant than musk, and its jugs are like the stars of the sky. Whoever drinks from it will never thirst again.'" (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

The scholars are unanimously agreed that the cistern of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on the Day of Resurrection is proven
Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari said, “The scholars are unanimously agreed… that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will have a cistern on the Day of Resurrection to which his ummah will come. Whoever drinks from it will never thirst again, but those who changed and drifted away after he was gone will be prevented from reaching it.”

Scholarly views regarding the cistern
i. Al-Shafa‘i said, “Belief in the punishment in the grave, belief in the cistern, the intercession and the emergence of the Dajjal is true belief; Munkar and Nakir are true; belief in all of that is sound belief, and whoever omits any of these beliefs is going against the Book of Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, and the Sunnah of His Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).”

ii. Ahmad said, “What the followers of the Sunnah must believe, and whoever omits one of these beliefs will not be among Ahl al-Sunnah… includes belief in the cistern, and that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will have a cistern on the Day of Resurrection to which his ummah will come. Its width is like its length, the distance of a month’s travel and its vessels are like the number of stars in the sky, according to the sahih reports narrated via more than one isnad.”

There was a difference of scholarly opinion regarding the time when people will drink from the cistern: will it be before they cross the sirat or after that?
Al-Safarini said, “Al-Qadi ‘Iyad regarded it is more likely that the cistern will come after the sirat, and that drinking from it will happen after the reckoning and after people are saved from the Fire. Ibn Hamdan said in his book al-‘Aqidah: ‘The believers will drink from it before they enter Paradise and after they have crossed the sirat.’ Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar said: ‘The apparent meaning of the hadiths indicates that the cistern is adjacent to Paradise, so that water will pour into it from the river which is inside Paradise. If it was before the sirat, then the Fire would be between it and the water which pours into it from al-Kawthar. With regard to the other view, which is based on what was narrated, that a group of people will be warded off from it after they see it, and they will be taken to the Fire, the response to that is that they will be brought close to the cistern so that they can see it and see Paradise, then they will be pushed into the Fire before they reach the other side of the sirat.’ Al-Qurtubi said in al-Tadhkirah: ‘The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will have two cisterns, one in the place of standing before the sirat, and the other in Paradise, both of which are called Kawthar. In Arabic, the word al-kawthar refers to abundant good.’ Al-Jalal al-Suyuti said: ‘It is stated clearly in a sahih hadith narrated by al-Hakim and others that the cistern will be after the sirat. If it is said: once they move on from the place of standing, they will enter Paradise, and they will not need to drink from it, the response to that is: rather they will need that, because they will be detained there for the purpose of settling scores, so the drinking will be in the place where scores are settled. We can reconcile these matters by noting that drinking from the cistern will happen before the sirat for some people and after it for others, according to what they have of sins, so that when they have crossed the sirat, they will have been cleansed of sins. Perhaps this is a stronger view.’ Al-‘Allamah al-Shaykh Mar‘i said in his book al-Bahjah: ‘This is a very thorough examination of the matter which reconciles the two views, and it is very accurate.’”

16.3. Description of the cistern
16.3.1. Its vast size
i. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “The size of my cistern is like the distance between Aylah and San‘aa’ in Yemen.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

ii. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “My cistern is the size of a month’s journey.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

According to another report, “My cistern is the size of a month’s journey, its sides are equal, its water is whiter than silver, its fragrance is more pleasant than musk.” (Muslim)

What is meant by “its sides are equal” is that its width is the same as its length. Al-Qurtubi said, “What is meant is that it is a large cistern of which the length and width, and the corners, are very large.”

16.3.2. The colour, taste and fragrance of its water

i. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “Its water is whiter than milk and its fragrance is more pleasant than musk.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

ii. Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was asked about the drink of the cistern and he said, “It is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey.” (Muslim)

16.3.3. Its vessels and jugs
i. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “Its jugs are like the stars of the sky.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim) Its jugs are like the stars of the sky means in their number. It was also said that this refers to their colour, meaning that they sparkle and shine like the stars in the sky.

ii. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “In it there are jugs as numerous as the stars in the sky.”

Ibn ‘Uthaymin said: “The description of the cistern is that its length and its width are the distance of one month’s travel, its corners are large and its vessels are like the stars of the sky; its water is whiter than milk, sweeter than honey and more fragrant than musk; two spouts that originate from Paradise lead into it, one of gold and one of silver; the believers from the ummah of Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will come to drink from it, and whoever drinks from it will never thirst again after that. All of this is proven in al-Sahihayn or in one of them. It exists at present, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “By Allah, I can see my cistern now.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

16.3.4. The effect of drinking from the cistern
It was narrated that Sahl ibn Sa‘d (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, 'I will reach the cistern ahead of you. He who comes to me will drink, and whoever drinks will never thirst again.'" (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

16.3.5. The river of al-Kawthar and its connection to the cistern
Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Indeed, We have granted you O Muhammad al-Kawthar." (al-Kawthar 108:1) Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn ‘Abdillah ibn Mas‘ud asked ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) about the verse, "Indeed, We have granted you [O Muhammad] al-Kawthar." (al-Kawthar 108:1) She said, "It is a river that was given to your Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), on the banks of which there are tents of hollowed pearls, and its vessels are as numerous as the stars." (Al-Bukhari)

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Whilst the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was among us one day, he took a nap, then he raised his head and was smiling. We said, 'What has made you smile, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'Just now a surah was revealed to me,' and he recited, 'Indeed, We have granted you [O Muhammad] al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice to Him alone. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off." (al-Kawthar 108:1-3) Then he said: “Do you know what al-Kawthar is?” We said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: “It is a river that my Lord Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, has promised me, and there is much goodness in it. And it is a cistern to which my ummah will come to drink on the Day of Resurrection, its vessels like the number of stars.” (Muslim)

Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was asked about the drink of the cistern and he said, “It is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey, and two spouts that originate from Paradise lead into it, one of gold and one of silver, through which abundant water flows.” (Muslim)

Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, what are the vessels of the Cistern?' He said, 'By the One is Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, its vessels are more numerous than the stars and planets in the sky. There flow into it two spouts from Paradise, and whoever drinks from it will never thirst again. It is as wide as it is long, like the distance between Oman and Aylah. Its water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey." (Muslim)