How sound or otherwise is the story that is repeated on many websites and in many books, about the Bedouin who met the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said to him: “If my Lord calls me to account for my stinginess I will call Him to account for His generosity; if He calls me to account for my sins, I will call Him to account for His pardon; if He calls me to account for my errors, I will call Him to account for His mercy”? If it is not saheeh, is it permissible to repeat such phrases?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The general
approach which the Muslim should follow with regard to what he hears or
reads is to try and find out how sound it is before basing any knowledge or
action on it. This is what Allaah has enjoined in His Book, as He says
(interpretation of the meaning):“O you who
believe! If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with any news, verify
it”[al-Hujuraat
49:6]The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also warned against
accepting everything that is published, announced or broadcast, because
transmission and reporting is a trust which should be fulfilled properly,
and that can only be done by checking and verifying.The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It is sufficient
lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” Narrated by Muslim
(5). This story has not been narrated by any scholar in a hadeeth, and no
da’eef (weak) isnaad is known for it, let alone any saheeh isnaad. The fault
in its text is obvious, because even though it is not far-fetched to imagine
that a Bedouin may utter such words about Allaah, may He be exalted – due to
their ignorance and harshness – it is impossible to imagine that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would hear such words that
indicate poor etiquette towards Allaah, may He be exalted, and approve of
them or remain silent about them, let alone weep in approval of them as they
say in this story.Allaah, may He be
glorified and exalted, loves people to be humble in asking of Him and in
turning to Him, and He loves sincerity in humbling oneself before Him and
worshipping Him, and acknowledging one’s weakness, incapability, sin and
shortcomings.Thus Adam (peace be upon
him) said in his du’aa’:“They said: ‘Our Lord!
We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us
Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers’”[al-A’raaf 7:23]
And Nooh (peace be
upon him) said:“O my Lord! I seek
refuge with You from asking You that of which I have no knowledge. And
unless You forgive me and have mercy on me, I would indeed be one of the
losers”[Hood 11:47]
And our Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us to express humility
and submission, and to admit our sins in our du’aa’.It was narrated from
Shaddaad ibn Aws (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:“Shall I not tell you of
the best of prayers for forgiveness?
‘Allaahumma anta rabbi la ilaaha illa anta, Khalaqtani wa
ana ‘abduka wa ana ‘ala ‘ahdika wa wa’dika ma astata’t. A’oodhu bika min
sharri ma sana’tu, aboo’u laka bi ni’matika ‘alayya wa a’tarifu bi dhunoobi,
faghfir li dhunoobi innahu laa yaghfiru’l-dhunooba illaa anta (O Allaah,
You are my Lord. None has the right to be worshipped but You. You created me
and I am Your slave, and I am faithful to my covenant and my promise (to
You) as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from all the evil I have done.
I acknowledge before You all the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and I
confess to You all my sins. So I entreat You to forgive my sins, for nobody
can forgive sins except You).’ Whoever says this when evening comes and the
decree (i.e., death) comes to him before morning comes, will be among
the people of Paradise, and whoever says it when morning comes, and
the decree (i.e., death) comes to
him before
evening comes, will be among the people of Paradise.”Al-Bukhaari (6306).
This is the etiquette of
du’aa’ that Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, loves; this is the
etiquette of the Prophets and Messengers; it is not right for a person to be
harsh or insolent in addressing the Creator, may He be glorified, by saying,
“If He calls me to account I shall call Him to account.”Standing before Allaah
and addressing Him is a very serious matter and the slave is weak and in
great need of Allaah. It is not befitting for the slave to address his Lord
with harsh words. Even if his intention is sound, the slave should still
speak in a humble manner.The point is that this
hadeeth is false and fabricated, and it is not permissible to narrate it or
attribute it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him). Similarly, it is not permissible for a person to address his Lord in
this manner that is attributed to the Bedouin, rather the Muslim must use
words of submission which reflect his true status and position.Shaykh Haatim al-Shareef
said:The hadeeth mentioned is
an example of the kind of ahaadeeth that show obvious signs of being
fabricated and forged. It contains poor language, weak composition and silly
ideas, and anyone who has any knowledge of the Sunnah of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and its noble essence and
eloquence will have no doubt that this cannot be a saheeh hadeeth from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). I could not find
this version of it, and I wish that the questioner had told us of the source
from which he found this hadeeth, so that we could warn people against it.
But Abu Haamid al-Ghazaali (may Allaah have mercy on him), as was his wont,
narrated a false hadeeth in Ihya’ ‘Uloom al-Deen (4/130) which is
similar in content to the hadeeth asked about here. In it, it says that a
Bedouin said to the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him): O Messenger of Allaah, who is in charge of bringing people to account
on the Day of Resurrection? He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “Allaah, may He be blessed and exalted.” He said: He Himself? He
said: “Yes.” The Bedouin smiled and the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: Why are you smiling, O Bedouin? He said: When the
Most Generous has the power to punish He will forgive, and when He calls to
account He will pardon …Al-‘Iraaqi said
concerning this hadeeth: I could not find any basis for it. Al-Subki
mentioned it among the ahaadeeth for which he could find no isnaad.
Takhreej Ahaadeeth al-Ihya’, no. 3466; Tabaqaat al-Shaafa’iyyah
al-Kubra, 6/364.Nevertheless many texts
in the Qur’aan and saheeh Sunnah point to the vastness of Allaah’s mercy and
forgiveness, and that He accepts the repentance of the penitent and responds
to the prayers of those who seek forgiveness. Allaah says (interpretation of
the meaning):“And verily, I am indeed
forgiving to him who repents, believes (in My Oneness, and associates none
in worship with Me) and does righteous good deeds, and then remains constant
in doing them (till his death)”[Ta-Ha 20:82]
“And He it is Who
accepts repentance from His slaves, and forgives sins, and He knows what you
do”[al-Shoora 42:25]
“My Mercy embraces all
things. That (Mercy) I shall ordain for those who are the Muttaqoon (the
pious), and give Zakaah; and those who believe in Our Ayaat (proofs,
evidences, verses, lessons, signs and revelations, etc.)”[al-A’raaf 7:156]
In Saheeh al-Bukhaari
(7554) and Saheeh Muslim (2751) it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may
Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah wrote a document before He created the
universe: My mercy prevails over My wrath.”And Allaah knows best.
End quote.
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