Fatwa ID: 06392
Answered by: Muftiyah Habiba Akhtar
Question:
I read in Fazail e Amal a hadith, and I wish to know its authenticity/classification. This is the beginning of the hadith: “Salman (Radhiyallaho anha) narrates that he had asked Rasulullah (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) about the forty ahadith concerning which he had said that, if anyone from amongst his Ummat memorized them, he would enter Paradise.” Afterwards, it lists 40 points.
The hadith is at the end of the “Virtues of the Holy Qur’an” section and can be found on pg 192 of this scanned pdf of fazail e amal: https://thequranblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/fazail-e-amal-virtues-of-deeds.pdf
I look forward to your reply, may Allah bless you all and reward you for your efforts.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
The hadith comes in various narrations, one of which is:
Narrated by Abbas RA, Anas RA and Abu Huraira:
من حفظ على أمتي أربعين حديثاً من أمر دينه بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيهاً عالماً
Whoever memorises and preserves for my people forty hadith relating to his religion, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgment as a jurist and religious scholar (1)
There are a number of other narrations listed in the following books: Jami bayanul Ilm, Hilyatul Awliyah, Shu’ab ul Iman which list different narrations of the hadith.
As there are various narrations for the hadith, despite the chains of narrations being weak, they strengthen when collected and accepted by most scholars. This is applied with hadiths that are not to do with Aqeedah and Ahkams/rulings. (2)
Therefore, we can accept the tradition despite its weak chain as it’s been narrated by multiple people.
Only Allah knows best
Written by Muftiyah Habiba Akhtar
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
(1)
من حفظ على أمتي أربعين حديثاً من أمر دينه بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيهاً عالماً
Kanzul A’mal, Volume 10, Page 136, Darul Ihya Turath
(2)
ويجوز عند أهل الحديث وغيرهم التساهل في الأسانيد ورواية ما سوى من الضعيف والعمل به من غير بيان ضعفه في غير صفات الله تعالى والأحكام كالحلال والحرام وغيرهما، وذلك كالقصص وفضائل الأعمال والمواعظ وغيرهما مما لا تعلق له بالعقائد والأحكام
قالوا: إذا روينا في الحلال والحرام شدّدنا، وإذا روينا في الفضائل ونحوها تساهلنا …
وذكر شيخ الإسلام له ثلاثة شروط: أحدها: أن يكون الضعيف غير شديد فيخرج من انفرد من الكاذبين والمتهمين بالكذب، ومن فحش غلطه، نقل العلائ الإتفاق عليه. الثاني: أن يندرج تحت أصل معمول به. الثالثأن لا يعتقد عند العمل به ثبوته، بل يعتقد الإخبار
Tadrib ar-Rawi, volume 1, page 251-2, Qadimi Kutub Khana
