Question:
Aslam o alaykum wr wb ya Shaykh!
May Allah (swt) bless you for this work here and hereafter.
My question is regarding two ahadiths that I have heard from someone but couldn’t find it on book. Can you please tell about their authenticity.
1: Holy Prophet (pbuh) said to Sayyedna Abu bakar ‘as Sadiq , “Ya Abu Bakar in this world you knew me most but you never knew my Honor” (shaan).
2: Holy Prophet (pbuh) said, “generous person is my friend even if he is ‘fasiq‘” .
Please forgive me for bad adab but I really want to know the reality of these two hadiths .
jazaka Allah.
Answer:
`Alaykum Salam:
It is good to ask about sourcing when in doubt. In this case, both reports are falsehoods.
(i) The most knowledgeable of the Prophet’s high station among all the Sahaba is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (Allah be well-pleased with him), as is shown in the following hadith from Abu Sa`id al-Khudri in Bukhari, Muslim, the Sunan and the Musnad, which the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) spoke in his last days in this life:
“Allah gave one of His servants a choice between this world and what He has with Him, and that servant chose what Allah has with Him.” Abu Bakr wept profusely and we wondered why he wept, since the Prophet had told of a servant that was given a choice. The Prophet himself was that servant, as Abu Bakr told us later. The Prophet continued: “Abu Bakr, do not weep! Among those most dedicated to me in his companionship and property is Abu Bakr. If I were to take an intimate friend other than my Lord, I would take Abu Bakr….”
And in another version in Sahih Muslim, the Sunan, and the Musnad:
“I am excused, before each of my friends, of any friendship with anyone.
But if I were to take an intimate friend, I would take Ibn Abi Quhafa
[Abu Bakr] as my intimate friend. Truly, your Companion is the intimate
friend of Allah!”
(ii) In Mulla `Ali al-Qari’s dictionary of forgeries entitled al-Asrar
al-Marfu`a he states:
<<Regarding the report “The generous one is the beloved of Allah even if he is a transgressor (fasiq) while the miser is the enemy of Allah even if he is a monk”: it is baseless. Rather, its first part is forged since it contradicts what Allah Most High says: {Allah loves those who repent constantly to Him} (2:222) and {Allah loves not the wrongdoers} (3:140), whereas the transgressor is either a tyrant or a disbeliever.>>
Hajj Gibril Haddad
