What is the meaning of the hadith: "Whoever says that the people have perished, he is the most perished of them"?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: What is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever says that the people have perished, he is the most perished of them"? And I ask for an explanation of the hadith.
Answer:
Yes, this is a hadith, and it is valid. It means that if a person has a bad opinion of all the people, this is not permissible. The people do not all perish; there are among them people of good. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Abi Dawud 4252Sahih (Al-Albani) pure, such that the one who fails them or opposes them does not harm them. So one does not generalize the ruling about the people and say that they have all perished.
Or he says, "There is no Muslim on earth now," just as some ignorant people say, "There is no Muslim on earth now, and no one is upright; all the people have gone astray." This is not permissible. This is a generalization that is not permissible. Also, if he says "the people have perished," it means that he is certifying his own righteousness. It means that he is certifying his own righteousness. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:[An-Najm 53:32] And there may be among the people someone who is better than him and in a better state. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: What is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever says that the people have perished, he is the most perished of them"? And I ask for an explanation of the hadith.
Answer:
Yes, this is a hadith, and it is valid. It means that if a person has a bad opinion of all the people, this is not permissible. The people do not all perish; there are among them people of good. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
and a section of my people will continue to hold to the truth
لا تزال طائفة من أمتي على الحقOr he says, "There is no Muslim on earth now," just as some ignorant people say, "There is no Muslim on earth now, and no one is upright; all the people have gone astray." This is not permissible. This is a generalization that is not permissible. Also, if he says "the people have perished," it means that he is certifying his own righteousness. It means that he is certifying his own righteousness. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:
So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما معنى حديث من قال إن الناس هلكوا فهو أهلكهم؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.