Muwatta Malik 1637
موطأ مالك#1637SahihThese are the words of a Successor — the generation after the Companions — not of the Prophet ﷺ.
وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ عَمِّهِ أَبِي سُهَيْلِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ كَعْبِ الأَحْبَارِ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ إِذَا أَحْبَبْتُمْ أَنْ تَعْلَمُوا مَا لِلْعَبْدِ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ فَانْظُرُوا مَاذَا يَتْبَعُهُ مِنْ حُسْنِ الثَّنَاءِ .
Yahya related to me from Malik from his paternal uncle, Abu Suhayl ibn Malik from his father that Kab al-Ahbar said, "If you want to know what a slave has with his Lord, then look at whatever good praise follows him
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. Each scholar's own wording:
In-book reference: 47:5