Is there a weak hadith in the Book of Tawhid? Then the Shaykh’s discussion on mawquf hadiths that carry the ruling of marfu'.

The questioner : Is there a weak hadith in the Book of Tawhid by Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab?

The Shaykh : It is not Sahih al-Bukhari, so it contains...

The questioner : Some people say...

The Shaykh : What do some people say?

The questioner : Some people say: that there is no weak hadith in it, so we would like to hear your answer?

The Shaykh : I cannot now assert this answer negatively or positively, but I hesitate regarding one hadith. If you remember it, is it in the Book of Tawhid? Or in one of its commentaries? Is the hadith of the fly in the main text or in the commentary?

The questioner : In the main text itself.

The Shaykh : In the main text, then whoever said it is not Sahih al-Bukhari told the truth. The hadith of the fly is not valid as marfu' to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even if he transmitted it from the book of Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him). Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned it but did not discuss its chain of narration. When we investigated it, we found it to be a hadith mawquf upon Salman al-Farisi, and its chain to him is valid, but it is mawquf. The mawquf hadiths are a very important topic before us for every student of knowledge who wants to be clear in his religion. Mawquf hadiths sometimes carry the ruling of marfu', and sometimes they do not. As for the first case, i.e., when does a mawquf hadith carry the ruling of marfu'? There are two conditions that must be met. One of them is a condition in every hadith, which is authenticity (thubut). If a hadith is established from a Companion as mawquf upon him, the second condition is required, which is that it must be of a nature that cannot be stated merely by opinion, ijtihad, or deduction. Rather, the one who stops at its meaning must be certain that it must be by the instruction (taqwiif) of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), whom this Companion accompanied. If these two conditions are found: authenticity first, and that its meaning is of a nature that cannot be stated by ijtihad, opinion, or deduction second, then it is in the ruling of marfu'. An example of this is the hadith . This hadith came from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) as marfu', but its chain is weak. If it were an ordinary hadith, it would not serve as proof due to the weakness of its chain that I mentioned. But this hadith came with a strong chain, mawquf upon Ibn 'Umar. In that case, if we look away from the first marfu' chain from Ibn 'Umar from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), if we look away from it entirely and stop at his established mawquf hadith, we lose nothing; because this hadith mawquf upon Ibn 'Umar suffices us for that marfu' hadith with the weak chain. How was this mawquf hadith in the ruling of marfu'? Because it says: . Who is it that legalizes and forgives? It is only Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), sometimes in His Book, and sometimes in the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Accordingly, the scholars of hadith said: if a Companion says "from the Sunnah is such and such," it is in the ruling of marfu', unlike if a Tabi'i says "from the Sunnah is such and such," for it does not have the ruling of marfu'. This is an example of a mawquf hadith that is in the ruling of marfu', and it is true that it cannot be stated merely by opinion and ijtihad. Another example, which is more precise and further from being a source of ijtihad, is the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, which is also mawquf upon him, in which he said: . This hadith is mawquf and we did not find it marfu' at all. It came with a valid chain from Ibn 'Abbas as mawquf upon him. The scholars said: this hadith is in the ruling of marfu'. Why? Because it speaks of a hidden matter (ghayb), and he says that the word of Allah, the Noble Qur'an, descended in one piece to the lowest heaven. The human mind cannot speak of this except from a person who does not care what comes out of his mouth. But Ibn 'Abbas, a noble Companion, the son of a Companion, the cousin of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it does not occur to anyone that he would speak of hidden matters by guesswork. So his statement that the Qur'an descended in one piece, to the end of the hadith, contains subtleties that distance the possibility that this hadith was said by opinion. For example, after mentioning that it descended in one piece to the House of Glory, what is the House of Glory? And can a person designate a place in the sky and name it with a name of his own?! This is even further from being the result of the Companion's opinion. Then he designates the place of the House of Glory in the sky; he does not say the seventh, no, but rather says the lowest heaven. So this is a mawquf hadith in the ruling of marfu'. So we have known these two examples, and that was a preparation to reach the ruling on the hadith of the fly, . Since its chain is established from Salman al-Farisi as mawquf, is it in the ruling of marfu'? It could have been said that it is in the ruling of marfu', because it also speaks of a hidden matter that preceded the mission of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). But what prevents us from saying that it is also in the ruling of marfu' is that it is possible that it is from the Isra'iliyyat. The Isra'iliyyat originate from the People of the Book. The People of the Book, without doubt, had the Book revealed to them, the Torah and the Gospel, and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent many prophets to the Children of Israel. So they used to inform them of things from the hidden matters. But what entered into these reports that were revealed to the prophets of Allah, from the revelation of the sky, was what was not from it, resembling it as much as possible, and without likeness as they say. Just as some weak and fabricated hadiths entered into the Sunnah, so many hadiths with no basis in their previous laws entered into the Children of Israel, with a very great difference between the hadiths of our Prophet and the hadiths of their prophets. The hadiths of our Prophet, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) provided for them those who serve them and distinguish their authentic from their weak, as came in some athar from some of the imams of hadith. When one of the Zindiqs was arrested and the Caliph ruled to cut off his head for his Zindiqah, he expressed the anger of his heart by saying, "I will not die until I have inserted five thousand hadiths into the hadiths of your Prophet." So he was at ease with this death. One of the scholars of hadith present said to him, "You are wretched, these hadiths will not pass among the Muslims, and among them is so-and-so." Perhaps he said Ibn al-Mubarak or someone else, "and he has taken the sieve in his hand, so he sifts these hadiths and purifies them and separates them from the authentic hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." The point is: that the hadiths of the earlier prophets had entered into them what is not from them, and these are what are known among Muslims today as Isra'iliyyat. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to narrate anything from the hadiths that occurred among those before us if it comes from other than the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Isra'iliyyat are divided in terms of their narration into two categories: a category, which is the lesser, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke of. So if the chain is established to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is from the authentic Isra'iliyyat, like for example the hadith of that man about whom he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . But the man appears from the context of the hadith that he was sincere. He was eager to repent to his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He), but he wanted a scholar, truly, to guide him to the path. . From here appears the knowledge of this scholar. But if you were in a bad land, if you were in a good land with its people, you would not be able to kill a hundred souls without right. . This hadith was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said; so this is a marfu' hadith and it relates to the Children of Israel, so it is from the few authentic hadiths that relate to the Isra'iliyyat.
As for the second category of hadiths, which is the majority, they are those narrated, even if only mawquf (stopping at a Companion), even with a sound chain. In that case, they do not take the ruling of marfu' (traced to the Prophet). So do not believe them and do not deny them, because if we believe them, we may end up believing what they have lied about, and if we deny them, we may end up denying what they have inherited from their prophets. Therefore, we neither believe them nor deny them, unless it comes through the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), whose characteristic is that . Once we understand this distinction regarding the mawquf hadith, and that it does not become marfu' or take the ruling of marfu' unless it speaks about matters related to the Islamic Shari'ah, whereas if the hadith concerns what happened among those before us, then we do not speak about it. If that is the case, we return to the hadith of the fly. It is mawquf and speaks about what happened among those before us. In that case, we neither believe it nor deny it, for the reason I mentioned earlier regarding his (peace be upon him) saying: . However, in the hadith of the fly, in the terminology of hadith scholars, there is an anomaly (nukarah) in the text. That is because the first man entered Paradise because of a fly, as he passed by the polytheists and they asked him to offer a fly as a sacrifice to their idol, but he refused, so he entered Paradise. Then the second man came, and they asked him to offer a fly, so he did, and he entered the Fire. We know that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) made an exception for the one whose disbelief leads to eternal abode in the Fire, and He said: . And we know from what the scholars of tafsir mentioned regarding the occasion of revelation of this verse, and although there is some weakness in the narration from the hadith perspective, the occasion is consistent with this verse: . They said that this verse was revealed concerning 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai (may Allah be pleased with him), for he was among the earliest of the Companions who were tortured in the path of Allah, just as Bilal al-Habashi (may Allah be pleased with them all) was tortured, and 'Ammar ibn Yasir was severely tortured. It seems that the polytheists, may Allah curse them, noticed that his strength had collapsed, so they offered him that if he would speak ill of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), curse him, and call him a sorcerer, a poet, and a liar, they would release him. He said what they wanted from him. When he felt relief and the severe torture was lifted from him, it was as if he returned to himself, reproaching his soul for how it had allowed him to describe the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with what is disbelief itself. He found no repentance for him except to go to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and tell him what had happened to him, hoping he would find an exit for him. When he came to him (peace and blessings be upon him) and related the story to him, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: . He said: "I find my soul at peace with faith." So Allah revealed this verse: . And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: . If they return to torturing you, then you return to escaping this torture with this speech. Uttering it is disbelief, but it is not disbelief as long as your heart is at peace with faith. If we observe this distinction in the ruling of one who commits disbelief or utters disbelief and is not held accountable for it at that time, we find in the hadith of the fly some exaggeration and hyperbole. That is that this second man saw his companion, when he did not offer a fly to their idol, that they killed him. So when they offered him that offer, he offered what they asked of him and entered the Fire. If we want to correct the meaning of this hadith, and not its text, because we know that it first came as mawquf and that...