There is a hadeeth about a righteous man who was called ‘Alqamah; he was on his deathbed and had not uttered the kalimah (declaration of faith). Then the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sent for his mother, who said that she was angry with him, because he used to favour his wife over her. Then after that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) gathered firewood and told his mother that he would burn her son before her very eyes. She said: O Messenger of Allah, he is my son and I cannot bear to see you burning him in front of me! The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “O mother of ‘Alqamah, the punishment of Allah is more severe and longer lasting. If you want Allah to forgive him, then forgive him (yourself). By the One in Whose hand is my soul, his prayer, fasting and zakaah will not benefit him so long as you are angry with him.” So the woman forgave her son, and after some time he died, after uttering the shahaadatayn (twin declaration of faith). The hadeeth says that after that, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) called out to the Muhaajireen and Ansaar, saying: “If one of you gives precedence to his wife over his mother, Allah, the angels and all the people will curse him, and Allah will not accept his charity or righteous deeds unless he repent to Allah, may He be exalted, and seeks the pardon and pleasure of his mother. Allah remains angry because of her anger.” It was said that the hadeeth is in Musnad Ahmad, but I cannot find it. If it is saheeh, I hope you can tell me where it is.
Praise be to Allah.
This story was
narrated by Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) in his Musnad
when he first collected hadeeths for his book; the first compilation
contained many da‘eef (weak) and rejected hadeeths. Then Imam Ahmad (may
Allah have mercy on him) began to eliminate these hadeeths from his book,
and this story is one of the things that he eliminated.
In Musnad
al-Imam Ahmad (32/155 – Mu’sasat ar-Risaalah edition) it says the
following:
Abu ‘Abd
ar-Rahmaan said: In my father’s book there was the hadeeth of Yazeed ibn
Haroon: Faa’id ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan said: I heard ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa
say:
A man came to the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of
Allah, there is a young man here who is dying. He was told: Say Laa ilaaha
ill-Allah, but he could not say it. He said: “Did he not say it during his
lifetime?” He said: Of course. He said: “Then what is preventing him from
saying it at the time of his death?” … And he narrated the hadeeth at
length.
My father did not
narrate these two hadeeths – two hadeeths via Faa’id from Ibn Abi Awfa – and
he crossed them out from his book, because he did not approve of the hadeeth
of Faa’id ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan; in his view his hadeeth was to be rejected.
End quote from
al-Musnad.
With regard to the
rest of the hadeeth, as it appears in other sources that mention it, it is
as follows:
The Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) got up, and we got up with
him, and he went to the young man and said: “O young man, say Laa ilaaha
ill-Allah.” He said: I cannot say it. He said: “Why?” He said: Because I
disobeyed my mother. He said: “Is she still alive?” He said: Yes. He said:
“Send for her.” So they sent for her; she came and the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him said): “Is he your son?” She said: Yes. He
said: “What do you think, if a fire was lit, and it was said to you: if you
do not intercede for him, we will throw him into this fire?” She said: Then
I would intercede for him. He said: “Then call upon Allah to witness, and
call upon us to witness with you, that you are pleased with him.” She said:
I am pleased with my son. He said: “O young man, say Laa ilaaha ill-Allah.”
He said: Laa ilaaha ill-Allah. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said: “Praise be to Allah, Who has saved him from the Fire.”
This was narrated
by al-‘Aqeeli in ad-Du‘afa’ al-Kabeer, 3/461; and via him by Ibn
al-Jawzi in al-Mawdoo‘aat, 3/87. More than one attributed it to
at-Tabaraani. It was also narrated by al-Kharaa’iti in Masaawi’
al-Akhlaaq, no. 251; al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan, 6/197 and in
Dalaa’il an-Nubuwwah, 6/205; al-Qazweeni in at-Tadween fi Taareekh
Qazween, 2/369
All of them
narrated it via Faa’id ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan from ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa.
This isnaad is
very weak (da‘eef jiddan), because of Faa’id ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan. Imam Ahmad
said concerning him: His hadeeth is to be rejected.
Ibn Ma‘een said:
He is nothing. Ibn Abi Haatim said: I heard my father say: Faa’id’s hadeeth
is worthless; his hadeeths should not be written down, and his hadeeths from
Ibn Abi Awfa are false and you can hardly see any basis for them; they
barely sound like the hadeeth of Ibn Abi Awfa. If a man swore that all of
his hadeeths were lies, he would not be breaking his oath. Al-Bukhaari said:
His hadeeth is objectionable .
See: Tahdheeb
at-Tahdheeb, 8/256
Ibn Hibbaan said:
He was one of
those who narrated munkar (objectionable) hadeeths from famous narrator and
narrated very flawed hadeeths from Ibn Abi Awfa. It is not permissible to
quote his hadeeth as evidence. End quote.
Al-Majrooheen,
2/203
Abu ‘Abdullah
al-Haakim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
He narrated
fabricated hadeeths from Ibn Abi Awfa. End quote.
Al-Madkhal ila
as-Saheeh,
155
Ibn al-Jawzi
mentioned this story in al-Mawdoo‘aat (3/87) and said: This hadeeth
is not saheeh. End quote.
It was also
mentioned in al-Mawdoo‘aat by Ibn ‘Iraaq (2/296), ash-Shawkaani
(231), and al-Albaani (no. 3183); and by Shaykh Sulaymaan al-‘Alwaan in his
essay, al-I‘laam bi Wujoob at-Tathabbut fi Riwaayat al-Hadeeth (p.
16-17).
See: Qasas la
tathbut by Shaykh Mashhoor Hasan Salmaan (3/19-39, no. 21)
And Allah knows
best.
