Question:
As salamu alaykum,
Is the following hadith mawdu?
Miqdad, one of the loyal companions of `Ali (as), says: “I went to Abu Hurairah who said that he had heard the Noble Prophet (sa) say: ‘Contemplating for an hour is better than the worship of one year.’ I went to Ibn `Abbas and heard him say that the Noble Prophet (sa) said: ‘Contemplation for one hour is superior to seven years of worship.’ I went to another companion and heard him narrate that the Noble Prophet (sa) said: ‘An hour of contemplation is better than seventy years of worship.
Answer:
`Alaykum Salam,
The saying “An hour’s reflection (fikratu sa`a) is better than worshiping for sixty years” is narrated as a saying of:
1. Abu al-Darda’ by Ibn Sa`d in his Tabaqat (7:392), Ibn al-Mubarak in al-Zuhd (p. 332), Hannad in al-Zuhd (2:468), Ahmad in al-Zuhd (p. 139), Ibn Abi `Asim in al-Sunna (p. 129), Abu Nu`aym in the Hilya (1:209), and al-Bayhaqi in the Shu`ab (1:135-136);
2. Ibn `Abbas by Abu al-Shaykh in al-`Azama (1:298);
3. al-Hasan al-Basri by Ahmad in al-Zuhd (p. 272), Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf (7:190), and Abu Nu`aym (6:271).
Also narrated as “Studying together for one hour” (tadarus/mudhakarat al-`ilm) from Ibn `Abbas by al-Darimi, al-Bayhaqi, Madkhal (2:36-37 §459-460), and al-Dhahabi, Tadhkira (1:41).
Hajj Gibril Haddad
