What is the authenticity of the hadith: (There is no backbiting for an open sinner) and the hadith: (You are on the east bank of the river, and they are on the west bank)?

The questioner : He says, what is the authenticity of the hadith and the second hadith ? I think it is about fighting the Jews?

The Shaykh : Neither of the two hadiths is authentic, but some detail is necessary. "There is no backbiting for an open sinner" as a phrase attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not authentic in its attribution to him. This means that it is not permissible for a Muslim to say, "The Messenger of Allah said: 'There is no backbiting for an open sinner.'" Why? Because he (peace be upon him) said: Here, too, the rule that "the end justifies the means" is invalidated. If there is a phrase whose meaning is correct, that does not justify attributing this phrase to the Messenger, even if its meaning is correct in itself, because we do not attribute the meaning to the Messenger; we attribute the wording to the Messenger. And in that case, we fall into contradicting the saying of the Messenger: So, is the meaning of this hadith, "There is no backbiting for an open sinner," correct? The answer is yes. The meaning of this hadith, which is not authentic in its attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), is correct. There are many proofs, and one hadith is sufficient for us. This hadith was narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih from the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that a man asked permission to enter upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He (peace be upon him) said, while he was in his house and the one asking permission was outside the house: Is this backbiting or not? Because backbiting, as you know, as it came in Sahih Muslim, is So in this hadith, the Messenger described the one asking permission as When the man entered, the Messenger (peace be upon him) faced him, smiled at him, was cheerful with him, and sat with him as long as Allah willed. When he left, Aisha said—and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was among the rare, wise, intelligent, religious, and zealous women in tracking the words of the Messenger (peace be upon him) word for word, and for that reason she was the most knowledgeable of the women of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), indeed she was more knowledgeable than many of the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and she had the right to that, for she was the most beloved of people to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), as was explicitly stated in his words (peace be upon him). When the man about whom the Messenger said: left, she said, "O Messenger of Allah, when the man asked permission, I said: Then when he entered, I smiled at him and was cheerful with him." He said: The explainers of the hadith, in their interpretation and explanation of this hadith, say: This man was the chief of a tribe. He was the chief of a clan, and in this clan were some of those who believed in him (peace be upon him) and the weak Muslims, and he was their leader. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) treated him with consideration, but it was not possible for him not to make clear the reality of his matter to the people, so he said: So when he entered, he treated him with consideration and was kind to him, but it was not possible for him not to reveal him with such a word, which Lady Aisha received from him, and through her it reached us after fourteen centuries, his saying (peace be upon him): So, "There is no backbiting for an open sinner" is a correct meaning, because the Messenger backbit this open sinner. From here, the scholars said that backbiting, whose origin is prohibition, has exceptions. This is very important, and because of its importance, whoever is ignorant of these exceptions and holds to the general rule will go astray far and corrupt society because of his ignorance of these exceptions. They collected them in two lines of poetry, and one of them said:
"Criticism is not backbiting in six cases: *** The aggrieved, the one who knows, and the one who warns,
And one who openly commits open sinfulness, and one who asks for a ruling, and one who *** seeks help in removing a wrong.
This reality requires a lecture, and the point is that the hadith "There is no backbiting for an open sinner" is weak in its structure but correct in its meaning. I think this summarized statement is understood from the previous explanation.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : As for the hadith "You are on the east bank of the river, and they are on the west bank," this is weak in its chain of narration and is not authentic in its attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). But it is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in Sahih Muslim and others that the Muslims This is an authentic hadith. As for the actual division today that the weak hadith speaks of, Allah knows best. Things and circumstances may change, and the Jews may be expelled from Palestine, but it is not from us, us Muslims today who have rushed after the worldly life. There must be another generation, not this generation. I believe that the Jews will not have stability in Palestine. I do not say this in optimism, but I say this as a result of understanding many, and very many, hadiths. This fighting will take place in Palestine, and Allah will grant victory to the Muslims over the Jews. This is from one aspect. And from another aspect, we see in some authentic hadiths that when the Dajjal emerges, he will emerge from the direction of Iran, from the direction of Khurasan, and with him will be 70,000 Jews wearing black cloaks. They will come to Palestine, and Isa (peace be upon him) will be in Bayt al-Maqdis. The Dajjal will besiege him with those Jews, and Isa will come out and throw a spear at him, killing him, and the Dajjal will melt as salt melts in water. This means that with the entry of Isa and the Dajjal's siege of him in Bayt al-Maqdis, there will be no Jews at that time. So do not despair of the spirit of Allah. But it is obligatory for us to prepare, each according to his ability, so that we may be able, one day, whether near or far—and this is in the hand of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)—to expel the Jews and drive them out of all the lands of Islam. And I ask that that be soon. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And Glory be to You, O Allah, and with Your praise, I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You. Now I bid you farewell, and peace be upon you.