Question:
as-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Dear Shaykh Gibril,
I hope you and your family are well by the Grace of Allah ta`ala.
With Rabi` al-Awwal fast approaching, I was reading up on some narrations concerning the blessed birth of the Prophet (Sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). I came across the this narration which I kindly wish to ask you concerning the grading of its chain.
I patiently look forward to your reply.
jazakumullahu khayran.
Answer:
Alaykum as-Salam,
May Allah bless you and yours always.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ : ” لَمَّا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ آدَمَ خَيَّرَ لآدَمَ بَنِيهِ ، فَجَعَلَ يَرَى فَضَائِلَ بَعْضِهِمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ ، قَالَ : فَرَآنِي نُورًا سَاطِعًا فِي أَسْفَلِهِمْ ، فَقَالَ : يَا رَبِّ ! مَنْ هَذَا ؟ قَالَ : هَذَا ابْنُكَ أَحْمَدُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ هُوَ الأَوَّلُ وَالآخَرُ وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ شَافِعٍ ” .
“When Allah Almighty created Adam He let Adam select his offspring. Adam began to see their merits and precedence over one another. Then he saw me, a dazzling light beneath all of them. He said: ‘O my Lord, who is this?’ Allah replied: ‘This is your son Ahmad–upon him blessings and peace; he is the first and the last and he is the first intercessor.'”
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi’s Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (5:483) and with a shorter chain in Hadith al-Sarraj (3:236 §2628), an earlier book. This is a beautiful hadith with an apparently fair chain.
The rest of Sarraj’s narrators are truthful or trustworthy including Mubarak b. Fudala, whom Yahya and al-Nasa’i critiqued but al-Bazzar, Abu Dawud, al-`Ijli, al-Haythami and Ibn Hajar deemed him truthful, even thabt–which is the top of trustworthiness–according to Abu Dawud when he says haddathana as in this particular hadith.
Thank you for sending me this hadith.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
