Question:
As-salamu ‘alaykum,
I’ve been presented some ahadith for repelling poverty, could you clarify if these are from reliable sources.
1. Imam Tabarani has quoted in his Al-Mu’jamul Ausat from Abu Hurairah that Rasulullah said, “Whoever is granted a bounty by Allah I should express excessive gratitude for it. The one who has excessive sins should repent abundantly. Whoever is suffering from a lack of sustenance should recite, profusely: la hawla wa la quwatta illa billah al-ali al-azim.”
2. Ali states that Nabi said, “Whoever will recite a hundred times, la ilaha illallah al-haqq al-mubeen, it will become a means of safety from poverty for him and a solace from the solitude of the grave.” (Musnad al-Firdaus)
3. Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud says that Nabi said, “Whoever recites Surah Ikhlas when entering the house, this surah will distance poverty from the inhabitants of that house and the neighbours.” (Tabrani)
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
1. A very faulty translation of a narration which is found only in al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s Tarikh Baghdad and Ibn al-Jawzi’s `Ilal and is considered forged.
2. “Whoever recites a hundred times every day la ilaha illallah al-Haqq al-Mubeen, it will be a means of safety from poverty for him, he will attract wealth through it, it will be a solace from the desolation of the grave for him, and he will be knocking at the gate of Paradise.”
A “very weak-chained” hadith narrated by Abu Nu`aym in the Hilya and Sifat al-Janna; al-Malini in al-Arba`in `an al-Sufiyya; al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad, al-Ruwat `an Malik, and al-Rihla fi Talab al-Hadith; Ibn `Asakir in his Mu`jam al-Shuyukh; al-Silafi in al-Tuyuriyyat; Ibn al-Jawzi in the `Ilal; and al-Rafi`i in Tarikh Qazwin; all through al-Fadl b. Ghanim, a weak narrator who is alone in the world to claim to have heard this from Imam Malik, hence Ibn `Abd al-Barr in al-Tamhid said this is inauthentic from Malik.
3. Narrated from Jarir b. `Abd Allah (not Ibn Mas`ud) by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir with a very weak chain because of Marwan b. Salim al-Ghifar who is discarded.
Among the more authentic prescriptions against poverty:
(i) the du`a of taking to bed ending with the words, “Repay our debts and grant us sufficiency against poverty” (in Muslim and the Sunan);
(ii) piety to parents and supplication for them;
(iii) refraining from cursing the wind;
(iv) keeping family ties;
(vi) not wasting food;
(vii) reading Surat al-Waqi`a every night;
viii) saying subhan Allah wa-bi-hamdihi subhan Allah al-`azim, astaghfirullah 100 times daily.
It is also said that one who recites Surat al-Fil twenty-one times after the zuhr prayer will receive wealth from the Invisible.
The Hanafis deem the reading of Mukhtasar al-Quduri (an eminent book of fiqh) a protection against poverty as mentioned in Kashf al-Zunun and by Ahmad Khayri in his biography of Imam al-Kawthari in the introduction to the 1994 edition of the Maqalat.
The Maliki Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq recommends “never to dry one’s wet hands on one’s own clothes.”
And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
