What is the degree of authenticity of these two hadiths: “May Allah bless the smooth-skinned woman” and “You are in an age in which whoever abandons ten things of his religion will perish, and an age will come in which whoever upholds ten things of his religion will live”?

The questioner : There is a hadith whose authenticity we do not know, which says What is your opinion? And there is also a hadith that you are in an age , what is its source, is it authentic or not?

The Shaykh : As for the first hadith , this is a hadith with no basis in the Shari'ah, and it is not possible for such a blessing to exist in the Shari'ah. This is because a woman being smooth-skinned or being hairy is a matter over which her people have no ownership, no power, and no choice in whether she is smooth or hairy. This is the creation of Allah, as we mentioned earlier. This corresponds to some of the fabricated hadiths that disparage a type of human, such as the Black people, for example , and describe them with traits by which Black people are not distinguished from white people. For example, it is possible for white people to have these bad traits, just as it is possible for Black people to have the same. Therefore, a person being smooth or hairy, being white in complexion or black in complexion, is exactly like being tall or short; one is not praised or blamed for any of these, especially since the issue is relative. As I mentioned in some gatherings, we look at Black people with disdain for the darkness of their bodies, and then, conversely, Black people look at white people with the same view. There is a known phrase among them where they call them “al-baras,” meaning lepers. These are relative issues, and it is impossible for complete Islam to link praise or blame to something a person does not possess. Rather, praise, blame, reward, and punishment are for what issues from this accountable person, whether he is white or black, smooth or hairy.
As for the hadith to the end of the hadith, this is a hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi with a weak chain of narration, and some of them narrated it with another wording that does not come to my mind now, and it is perhaps extracted in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah*.