Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. In Ibn Abi Shaybah's Book of Paradise and Hell, there is the following hadith (35168): In paradise, there is a ruby in which 70,000 homes are present, and in every home 70,000 Hoors (the maidens of Paradise) are present and only a Prophet, a truthful one, a martyr, a righteous leader, and another person mentioned in the hadith will get or enter this ruby. So I want to know whether this hadith is authentic or not. If this is authentic, is the number that is mentioned the real amount then, or is it the number that is used to show abundance in the Arabic language? Also, how can one know that a certain number, like 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 10, 2, 20, and so on is the real amount or just a number that shows abundance in the Arabic language?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

This report was narrated on the authority of Ka‘b Al-Ahbaar, i.e. it was attributed to him and not to the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. It was apparently taken from the Israa'eeliyyaat (the body of narratives originating from Jewish and Christian traditions rather than from other well-accepted sources that quote the ahaadeeth of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). It is known that Muslim scholars held that such reports should neither be declared true nor declared false unless proven true or false by a Quranic verse or an authentic hadeeth. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 9067.

Hence, such report cannot be declared authentic or inauthentic because it is not a hadeeth to begin with.

Allah knows best.