QUESTION

Assalaamu’alekum,

I have a question about week Hadiths. I recently have joined an Islamic book club and my teacher was giving example of one week Hadith, which is "Jannat lies underneath the feet of mother". She said this is not in major book of Hadith.

I just want to confirm it so I don’t tell other people wrong stuff.

Jazak-Allah

ANSWER

AlHamdu Lillah, Thank you very for your question. It is an important matter and people must know the difference and have enough knowledge of “the Science of Qura’n and Hadith” to pass any judgment or make remarks about any matter in our faith.

Allah The Almighty testifies that the Prophet (peace be upon him) never followed, ordered or did anything but under the guidance of Allah The Almighty, In Surah An-Najm (53:1-5),

“By the Star when it goes down. Your Companion is neither gone astray nor being misled. Nor he says of his own Desire. It is not but inspiration sent down to him (by Allah), He was taught by one Mighty (Angel) in Power (Jibarel AS), Endued with Wisdom (by Allah).”

The again in the same Surah (53:10), Allah The Almighty says;

“So (Allah) conveyed the inspiration to His Servant (Mohammed), conveyed what He (Allah meant) to convey.”

The above ayat teaches us that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ordered and practiced everything according to the orders of Almighty Allah. Having said that, the Pious Predecessors and scholars have established a fundamental criteria that anything attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) does not contradict the orders of Allah mentioned in Qura’n.

Anything attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon) but (Astaghfirullah) contradictory to Qura’n is a fabrication not a hadith, must be refuted and not followed. Similarly, to attribute false and contradictory statement or traditions to the Prophet (peace be upon him) is also a highly sinful.

There are six most authentic book of ahadith, namely as Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawood, Jamea At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasai and Sunan Ibn Majah. The work is already done and “a more authentic book cannot be created.” In early days of Islam, the ahadith were compiled according to the transmitters and not by the content (topic). For example, the two authentic collections of ahadith by Sayedina Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (RA) called “Masnad Imam Ahmad” and Sayedina Imam Malik (RA) called “Muwatta” contain ahadith from certain Companions (RAA).

The hadith your teacher mentioned is reported in Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Masnad Imam Ahmed, An-Nasai and Sunan Ibn Majah. The wording is a little different for example;

a) Ibn Majah reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said; “A person came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and asked to participate in a Jihad. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the man if his mother is still alive, the man said yes, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said; "Serve her, as at your paradise is at her feet.”

a) At-Tirmidhi reported; “Sayedina Jahmah (RAA) narrated, I asked to take part in a Jihad, the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked me if my mother is alive. I replied in affirmative, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said; Stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet.”
I would not speculate what books of ahadith your teacher considers authentic and on what grounds she calls this a weak hadith. This hadith is exactly in light and line with the numerous orders of Almighty Allah in Qura’n about respect of and duties towards parents especially mothers. This hadith appears in three (3) of the six (6) authentic books of ahadith (As-Sahah As-Sittah) and also in Masnad Imam Ahmad, thus meets the criteria for an acceptable hadith.

In response to a similar question, prominent Scholar Shaikh Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqui said; (Quote)

“Generally, in Islamic law, only the authentic (sahih) and good (hasan) hadiths are used in deriving the rules. The weak (da`if) Ahadith have no value for the purpose of Shariah (means in matters such as implementation of limits, punishment, issue of jurisprudence, etc - Najam). However, the scholars of hadith sometimes differ among themselves in the determination of whether some Ahadith are weak or not. The scholars have sometimes used weak Ahadith for moral and spiritual (Fada’il) matters. It is important that when one uses a weak hadith for any reason, one should explain it to the people that this is weak hadith and that it is being used for this particular reason.
We must also keep in mind that according to the scholars of Hadith (muhaddithin,) the Ahadith are counted according to their chains of narrators (Isnad) and not according to the texts (Matn). Thus one text of a hadith is often found reported through many chains of reporters. Normally the authenticity or weakness of the hadith is checked, not on the basis of its text, but on the basis of its chain (isnad) only. The weakness in a hadith could be due to the lack of continuity in the chain of transmitters or due to the lack of integrity (`adalah) of its narrators. There are various categories of weak Ahadith depending on what part of the chain of transmitters was interrupted and what lack of integrity is detected in a transmitter or transmitters of that particular hadith. It is also possible that a hadith is weak according to one narration (chain of transmission), but its text is found in another better and more sound narration (or the Qura’n itself , like in case of this hadith and the ayat of Qura’n about our duties towards our parents- Najam). Thus the judgment in this matter requires a thorough knowledge of the Hadith literature and methodology.” (End Quote)

In my opinion, we have to be extremely careful in passing decisive remarks on things that we have limited knowledge of, unless our opinion is based on clear guidance from the Qura’n, the ahadith from any of the six authentic books of ahadith or consensus among the Pious Predecessors (RAA). One must have in depth knowledge of Qura’n (including Tafsir), Hadith and its’ Sharh or read, research the writings of pious predecessors and then consult authentic scholars and not the other way around.

I hope this answers your question. I seek Allah’s forgiveness for any and all of my misunderstanding and for all my misdeed in all matters.

I request all of you to forward these replies to your circle of friends and family as you see appropriate. I leave you and your loved ones in the mercy, guidance and protection of Allah the Almighty.

Thank you and WaSalamu Alaikum,

Najam A. Najmi

Principal – Arbitrator, Mediator

www.MediationNJ.com

New Jersey, USA