Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2601
حَدَّثَنَا سُوَيْدُ بْنُ نَصْرٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الْمُبَارَكِ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " مَا رَأَيْتُ مِثْلَ النَّارِ نَامَ هَارِبُهَا وَلاَ مِثْلَ الْجَنَّةِ نَامَ طَالِبُهَا " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ إِنَّمَا نَعْرِفُهُ مِنْ حَدِيثِ يَحْيَى بْنِ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ . وَيَحْيَى بْنُ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ ضَعِيفٌ عِنْدَ أَهْلِ الْحَدِيثِ تَكَلَّمَ فِيهِ شُعْبَةُ وَيَحْيَى بْنُ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ هُوَ ابْنُ مَوْهَبٍ وَهُوَ مَدَنِيٌّ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘I have never seen anything like the Fire, yet the one who flees from it sleeps; nor anything like Paradise, yet the one who seeks it sleeps.’ Abu ‘Isa said: ‘We know this hadith only through the narration of Yahya ibn ‘Ubaydullah, who is considered weak by hadith scholars; Shu‘bah criticized him. Yahya ibn ‘Ubaydullah was Ibn Mawhib, from Madinah.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The saying is a rhetorical admonition: it questions how one can sleep while fleeing the Fire or seeking Paradise. The source explicitly identifies its sole route and the transmitter as weak.