Did any of the scholars of hadith weaken the hadith of the girl to whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked, "Where is Allah?"

The questioner : One of the brothers came from Irbid a little while ago to convey his greetings to you and to ask about the hadith of the girl to whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: He says, has any of the scholars mentioned that this hadith is weak or something, even though it is, of course, in Sahih Muslim.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : Has any of the scholars weakened this hadith throughout the ages?

The Shaykh : There is absolutely no one who has criticized this hadith except some of the Jahmiyyah of the present age.

The questioner : Only?

The Shaykh : But, and at their head isThe Shaykh : Zayd al-Kawthari. And the truth is, I say that this man, had he not been afflicted with Hanafi sectarianism in the branches and Maturidiyyah in creed, would have been a scholar of his time in the science of hadith, in his knowledge of the biographies of the narrators, and in his knowledge of the manuscript books, given that he was in Istanbul, and Istanbul has the works of the scholars of the Muslims from all ages and eras gathered there. So he was free to study, and therefore he speaks about books and narrations found in the depths of these books. I can say that no one in his time knew them except him. But unfortunately, this knowledge did not benefit him due to the prevalence of sectarian and ideological bias over him. He is the one who tried to deny the right of this authentic hadith through circumlocution and attempts to find defects, or at least a defect, in this hadith, but he was unable to do so scientifically. However, he did mislead those who take refuge in him and those who revolve in his orbit, making them think that there is a criticism of this hadith, even though Imam Muslim narrated it in his Sahih. And the truth is that there is no criticism of it. Perhaps you know that, by the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His mercy, although I hope that my Lord will gather me with the people of hadith, I do not have sectarian bias for al-Bukhari or for Muslim. I have some writings in which I refute some of the hadiths found in their books. So if I had found in this hadith what the man claimed, I would have been the first to spread this weakness; because it is not permissible to speak about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), especially in a matter related to creed. But despite that, this critic of the hadith is misled by his Shaytan into thinking that if he could prove its weakness, his Shaytan would mislead him into thinking that he has demolished the Salafi creed, which states that among the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is His rising above all His creation. He gains nothing from this. When we speak about this noble Prophetic question and the girl's answer to it with the correct answer, we say: Look at the answer of this girl, the shepherdess of sheep. It is more correct than the answer of the Shaykh of al-Azhar. Why? Because the Shaykh of al-Azhar, who spent his life studying creed, claimed to have graduated from a school other than the school of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and instead graduated from the school of 'ilm al-kalam. But that girl, who was a shepherdess of sheep, graduated from the school of the Messenger (peace be upon him). And now think with me: how did this girl, a shepherdess of sheep, know the correct answer? She is a woman first, and a shepherdess of sheep second, and she could not attend lessons in the presence of the Messenger (peace be upon him) as the men did. Do you think that most of the Companions of the Messenger attended his lessons, or the least of them? I say the least of them. And therefore Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says: There is not among the thousands of Companions anyone who issued fatwas except about two hundred. Two hundred of the Companions were scholars, and the rest remained within the scope of the saying narrated from Mu'adh: "Be a scholar, or a student, or a listener." That means one of three, but they were not the fourth: "And do not be the fourth, lest you perish." If the men were like this, what do we say about the women? Even less, and much less. Here comes the question: how did this girl, this shepherdess of sheep, know the correct answer to this Prophetic question? She said, "In the sky." And today you ask the scholars and doctors, and they will tell you, "Allah exists in all of existence."

The questioner : Perhaps... they received the question.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Perhaps they did not receive the question.

The Shaykh : Perhaps they did not receive the question. Well done. They will look at you with their eyes and say to you, "What is this question?" This question is not permissible. I seek refuge in Allah, O man, you do not know. You are denying the Messenger (peace be upon him), who established this question for us. They do not know that they do not understand the religion. The point is, how did this girl know the correct answer? Because she graduated from the school of the Messenger. Was the school of the Messenger here, the joke? The school of the Messenger was confined to his mosque, where only the least of the men attended? No, it was widespread. How so? Those who attend convey it to those behind them. They convey it to their women, their daughters, and so on. So the Muhammadan jurisprudence spreads in the Muhammadan community, and this jurisprudence reaches this shepherdess from whom? From her master, because he is responsible for her. So it is obligatory for us to care about conveying knowledge, as came in the authentic hadiths.