When you answered the question about the soundness of the hadeeth of Abu Moosa – “Allah, may He be exalted, looks down on the night of the fifteenth of Sha‘baan and forgives all His creation except a mushrik or one who harbours hatred against the Muslims” – you gave an answer, may Allah reward you, but you did not mention the fact that this hadeeth was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani, as I have read on some other websites. I trust you much more than I trust other websites, because of your methodology and your academic precision and honesty. But my question is: did Shaykh al-Albaani really class this hadeeth as saheeh? Because you mentioned the opinion of Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) in your fatwa, so why did you not mention it here? Is it the case that he did not say this at all, and that what is mentioned in those other websites is not correct, or what? Please note that the verdict of it being saheeh, as I have read, is to be found in Saheeh al-Jaami‘, hadeeth no. 1819.


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It is clear to everyone that we usually rely
on the verdict of Shaykh al-Albaani with regard to whether a hadeeth is
saheeh (sound) or da‘eef (weak). But sometimes we research a hadeeth and
find a verdict by a scholar other than Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have
mercy on him), and perhaps we may think that the vedict of the other
scholars concerning a specific hadeeth to be more likely to be correct, or
sometimes based on our methodology of research we that it is more
appropriate not to follow the shaykh’s verdict (may Allah have mercy on him)
in the case of a particular hadeeth. We may see that the view of Shaykh
al-Albaani concerning a hadeeth is well known and that there are few who
disagree with him, so we mention his verdict and comment on it; but
sometimes we see that there are many who disagree with the verdict of Shaykh
al-‘Albaani, so we decide not to mention his verdict and comment on it, and
are content with what we have mentioned of the view of other scholars. 

This latter scenario is what happened when
we did not mention the verdict of Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on
him) with regard to this hadeeth, and we quoted the words of Ibn Rajab
al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him), who said that most of the scholars
classed as da‘eef the hadeeths that speak of the virtues of the middle of
Sha‘baan.

 However, we should point out an important
matter here, which is that Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him)
thought that the isnaad of the hadeeth of Abu Moosa al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be
pleased with him) was da‘eef! This is in harmony with what we have mentioned
above about its isnaad being da‘eef, but we did not quote it from him
because he – may Allah have mercy on him – thought that the hadeeth could be
classed as saheeh when all its isnaads were taken into consideration. 

He – may Allah have mercy on him – said: 

With regard to the hadeeth of Abu Moosa, it
was also narrated by Ibn Luhay‘ah from az-Zubayr ibn Sulaym from ad-Dahhaak
ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan from his father who said: I heard Abu Moosa (narrate)
something similar from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him). 

It was narrated by Ibn Maajah (1390) and Ibn
Abi ‘Aasim al-Laalkaa’i. 

I say: This is a da‘eef isnaad, because of
Ibn Luhay‘ah and ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan, who is Ibn ‘Arzab and the father of
ad-Dahhaak, is unknown. Ibn Maajah regarded him as weak when he narrated
from Ibn Luhay‘ah.

 As-Silsilah
as-Saheehah (3/218) 

The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him)
mentioned the isnaads of the hadeeth and its corroborating evidence in his
book as-Silsilah as-Saheehah (1144), and he concluded that the text
of the hadeeth of Abu Moosa (may Allah be pleased with him) is saheeh. 

But in our view, we do not think that what
the shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said is more likely to be correct,
and we do not think that those isnaads are fit to strengthen one another. At
the end of our answer, we referred to the essay by Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn
Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him), Hukm al-Ihtifaal bi Laylat an-Nusf
min Sha‘baan (Ruling on celebrating the night of the middle of
Sha‘baan), in which he said: 

What the majority of scholars are agreed
upon is that celebrating it is an innovation, and that the hadeeths that
speak of its virtues are all da‘eef, and some of them are fabricated. Among
those who pointed this out is al-Haafiz Ibn Rajab in his book Lataa’if
al-Ma‘aarif.

End quote. 

This is what is more likely to be correct in
our view. The issue of whether a hadeeth is to be classed as saheeh or
da‘eef is one of the areas of ijtihaad, in which the scholar acts upon that
which is more likely to be correct in his view, and in which the seeker of
knowledge follows that scholarly view which is more likely to be correct in
his opinion. This is not a matter in which one may denounce someone who
holds a different view. 

Please see also the answer to question no.
113687 for some important information about Shaykh
al-Albaani. 

And Allah knows best.