Tag: Q n A

Praise be to Allah.Firstly: 
Al-Bazzaar (4922) narrated via Usaamah ibn Zayd al-Laythi, from Abaan ibn Saalih, from Mujaahid, from Ibn ‘Abbaas, in a marfoo‘ report: “Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has angels on earth other than the recording angels who write down how many leaves fall from the trees. If one of you gets lost in the wilderness, let him call out, ‘Help me, O slaves of Allah.’” 
Al-Bazzaar said:
We do not know of these words being narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in this wording except this version with this isnaad.
End quote from Musnad al-Bazzaar (11/181) 
There are two problems with this hadeeth: 
1.It is based on the narration of Usaamah ibn Zayd al-Laythi
He is one of the narrators concerning whom the scholars of al-jarh wa at-ta‘deel (evaluation of hadeeth narrators) differed. Some of them regarded him as thiqah (trustworthy), and others regarded him as da‘eef (weak). Whatever the case, there is some doubt about his memory and precision. 
Imam Ahmad said: If you examine the hadeeth he narrated, you will find some oddness in it.
End quote from al-Kaamil fi Du‘afa’ ar-Rijaal (2/76) 
Al-Haafiz adh-Dhahabi said concerning him:
He is sadooq (honest) but sometimes gets confused. The view of Yahya al-Qattaan differed concerning him. Ahmad said: He is nothing. An-Nasaa’i said: He is not qawiy (strong). Ibn ‘Adiyy said: There is nothing wrong with him. 
End quote from al-Mughni fi ad-Du‘afa’ (1/66) 
Similarly, al-Haafiz said concerning him in at-Taqreeb: He is (honest) but sometimes gets confused.
End quote from Taqreeb at-Tahdheeb (p. 98) 
2.Those who narrated it from Usaamah ibn Zayd differed about how  he narrated this hadeeth. Some of them narrated it from him in a marfoo ‘ report, as the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and some narrated it in a mawqoof report as the words of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him).
The only one who narrated it as a marfoo‘ report was Haatim ibn Ismaa‘eel. His report was narrated by al-Bazzaar in his Musnad (4922). 
Four narrators differed from him. They are: 
1.‘Abdullah ibn Farookh. His report was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan (1/325)
2.Rawh ibn ‘Ubaadah. His report was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan (10/140)
3.Ja‘far ibn ‘Awn. His report was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan (10/140)
4.Abu Khaalid al-Ahmar. His report was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (6/91)
All of them narrated from Usaamah ibn Zayd al-Laythi, and regarded it as the words of Ibn ‘Abbaas. 
Undoubtedly the mawqoof report (with an isnaad going back to the Sahaabi – Ibn Abbaas – and not the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) – is more likely to be sound, because the number of its narrators is greater and they are more precise, so they are less likely to have made mistakes and get confused. 
Imam ash-Shaafa‘i said: If there are several narrators (whose reports concur), it is more likely to be transmitted correctly than if there is only one narrator.
End quote from Ikhtilaaf al-Hadeeth , p. 177 
Al-Haafiz Shams ad-Deen adh-Dhahabi said: If a hadeeth is narrated by a trustworthy narrator with an isnaad, and he narrated it as a mawqoof or mursal report, but a number of his trustworthy peers differed from him, then what counts is that on which those trustworthy narrators are agreed, because a single narrator may make mistakes. In this case there is a clear mistake with no way to explain it, and what matters is what the majority agree on.
al-Mooqazah p. 52 
What is more likely to be the case with this hadeeth – if we determine that it is acceptable – is that it is the words of Ibn ‘Abbaas, and not the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 
Al-Bayhaqi said: This is mawqoof (and its isnaad ends with) Ibn ‘Abbaas, and it has been applied by some righteous people, and they found it to be true from experience.
End quote from al-Adaab, p. 269 
Among those who acted upon this hadeeth was Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. 
‘Abdullah the son of Imam Ahmad said: I heard my father say: I heard my father say: I did Hajj five times, twice riding and three times walking, or twice walking and three times riding. I lost my way during one Hajj and I was walking, so I began to call out: O slaves of Allah, show me the way. I kept doing that until I found the road.
End quote from Masaa’il al-Imam Ahmad Riwaayat Ibnihi ‘Abdullah (p. 245). See also: Tareekh Dimashq by Ibn ‘Asaakir (5/298). 
Secondly: 
One of the important matters to which attention must be paid is that the guideline on the kind of seeking help that constitutes shirk is “asking of anyone other than Allah for that which no one can do except Allah.” 
As for seeking help from other created beings in matters that they are able to do, that has nothing to do with shirk at all. 
The report mentioned states that there is a type of angels, who are alive, in the sense of a life that is natural and appropriate for them. Allah has put them on earth to help those who are lost and guide them to the correct route, so whoever asks them for help is asking for help from a created being regarding something that he is able to do, and Allah has created him for this role. 
There is a great difference between this and asking a created being who is dead or absent to heal his sick loved one, or to bless him with a child, or to make childbirth easy for his wife, or to have mercy on him and forgive him, and other things that no one can do except Allah. 
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:
Istighaathah means seeking ghawth (help) which is removal of hardship. A created being may be asked for help with regard to matters that he is able to help with, as Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“but if they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them”
[al-Anfaal 8:72]
“The man of his (own) party asked him for help against his foe”
[al-Qasas 28:15]
“Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety)”
[al-Maa’idah 5:2]. 
But with regard to that which no one can do except Allah, it should only be sought from Allah. End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/103). 
And he said:
As for that which no one can do except Allah, may He be exalted, it is not permissible to seek it from anyone except Allah, may He be glorified; it should not be sought from the angels or the Prophets or anyone else, and it is not permissible to say to anyone other than Allah “Forgive me” or “Give us rain” or “Grant us victory over the disbelieving people” or “Guide our hearts” and so on. … As for that which humans are able to do, that does not come under this heading.
End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/329) 
And he said:
The Sunnah is that the living person may be asked to offer du‘aa’ (supplication), just as he may be asked for anything else that he is able to do. As for created beings who are absent or dead, they are not to be asked for anything.
End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/344) 
And he said:
Things that no one is able to do except Allah are not to be sought from anyone else, such as sending down rain, causing crops to grow, relief of distress, guidance away from the wrong paths, and forgiveness of sins. No one in creation is able to do these things; no one is able to do them except Allah.
End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/370) 
We have quoted a great deal from Shaykh al-Islam about this point because there is a great deal of confusion about it among those who follow whims and desires and innovations (bid‘ah), who seek to confuse others also. 
Shaykh Saalih Aal ash-Shaykh said: The hadeeth does not support the claim of the followers of falsehood, that one may ask of the dead and others. Rather it clearly states that those who are addressed by the one who has lost his way are the angels, who can hear what he says to them and are able to respond by their Lord’s leave, because they are alive and have been given the ability to help the one who is lost find his way. They are the ones who are addressed as slaves of Allah; they are alive and can hear, and can respond by doing what their Lord enables them to do, which is to help the one who is lost in the wilderness find his way. Whoever quotes these reports as meaning that one may call upon a specific person by name is telling lies against the Messenger of Allah, and he has not paid attention to and contemplated the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and that is characteristic of those who follow whims and desires. 
Once this is clear, we may say that this report contains words that may be said and one may be lenient concerning it, despite the fact that it is da‘eef, because it is in accordance with the basic teachings of Islam and is not contrary to the texts of the Qur’an and Prophetic hadeeths. Moreover, it is specific to a situation as mentioned in the report, because this is one of the matters concerning which it is not permissible to make analogy, as beliefs are based on tawqeef [i.e., they can only be known through divine Revelation and sound texts of hadeeth, with no room for ijtihad].  This is what we understand. (p. 56) 
To sum up: 
With regard to that which no one can do except Allah, and that which is unique to His Lordship, such as giving life, causing death, and granting provision… All of that is not to be sought from anyone except Him, may He be glorified. Whoever seeks help from anyone other than Allah with regard to such matters has committed shirk (association of others with Allah). 
With regard to that which created beings are able to do, there is nothing wrong with asking for it from those who are able to do it, or seeking their help with regard to it, subject to two conditions: that the one whose help is sought is alive and present, and that he is able to do that thing. 
For more information, please see the answer to question no. 132642
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.
One of the most important things that the
educated Muslim, or the Muslim who is acquainted with the classical legacy,
should understand is that stirring up doubts is easy and is something that
anyone could do, to stir up doubts about anything, even about basic givens
and common-sense issues on which people base their rational thinking. The
matter may even go so far that some of those who got carried away with
doubts and specious arguments ended up denying their own existence, and
doubted everything around them, which led to them being admitted to mental
health clinics, because they drifted so far from common sense and sound
human nature. 

This is how we deal with many so-called
specious arguments which are, in reality, nothing but illusions uttered by
some people who are causing us trouble at this time. This always compels us
to start from the very beginning in establishing principles of sound
rational thinking in various fields of knowledge and education. 

What is mentioned in the question is one
such example. If what the questioner meant by “original copies” is
manuscripts that the author wrote in his own hand, then according what
rational thinking or logic can it be said that it is essential that the
original manuscripts be extant in order to accept that a particular book is
correctly attributed to its author?! How many books are there in the world,
since people learned how to write, that could meet this irrational
condition?! 

In order to understand how irrational
those who stipulate that condition are, all you have to do is imagine that
one of them entered a venerable library or well-known publishing house or
international bookstore and said to the person in charge, I will not accept
the attribution of any books you have in this huge store unless you give me
the original manuscript, written by the author himself, so that I will be
certain that these books are soundly attributed to their authors! Doing this
would be ignoring all the customs and academic and legal requirements which
guarantee to us nowadays that the book is sound and that it will not be
claimed by anyone other than the author, such as requirements to register
books in the National Library, to get permission to publish, making books
well-known to critics and providing well-established evidence to that
effect, and other similar academic ways of proving such matters. 

We know for certain that some of those who
specialise in producing specious arguments know deep down in their hearts
how foolish and silly are the things they suggest and say, but at the same
time they persist in saying it because they know that merely stating his
specious with regard to anything that exists will inevitably have some
influence on people’s hearts and minds. Hence whatever results he gets will
suffice him, even if he only manages to confuse a few people. What matters
to him is that he shuffles the cards and causes confusion with regard to
sound ways of thinking. 

However, Saheeh al-Bukhaari was
heard by ninety thousand men from Imam al-Bukhaari himself (may Allah have
mercy on him), as was stated by one of his most famous students, namely
Muhammad ibn Yoosuf al-Farbari (d. 320 AH). See: Tareekh Baghdaad
(2/9); Tareekh al-Islam (7/375). Al-Farbari’s narration of Saheeh
al-Bukhaari was famous because he lived for a long time and was precise
in copying it out. He heard it from al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on
him) over three years, then a number of trustworthy narrators learned it
from him, and from them this book became well-known. 

Al-Mustamli (d. 376 AH) – one of those who
narrated it from Muhammad ibn Yoosuf al-Farbari – said: I copied the book of
al-Bukhaari from its original text that was with Ibn Yoosuf, and I saw that
he had not completed it yet; there were many blank pages there, including
some isnaads after which he had not written any hadeeths, and some hadeeths
for which he had not written any isnaads. So we tried to complete that.

End quote. Narrated by al-Baaji in at-Ta‘deel
wa’t-Tajreeh (1/310) 

The Saheeh was narrated from al-Farbari
by a number of trustworthy narrators, among the most famous of whom were the
following: 

Al-Mustamli (d. 376 AH), whose name was
Ibraaheem ibn Ahmad

Al-Hamawi Khateeb Sarkhas (d. 381 AH),
whose name was ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad

Abu’l-Haytham al-Kashmeehani (d. 389 AH),
whose name was Muhammad ibn Makki

Abu ‘Ali ash-Shabwi, whose name was
Muhammad ibn ‘Umar

Ibn as-Sakan al-Bazzaaz (d. 353 AH), whose
name was Sa‘eed ibn ‘Uthmaan

Abu Zayd al-Mirwazi (d. 371 AH), whose
name was Muhammad ibn Ahmad

Abu Ahmad al-Jarjaani (d. 373 AH), whose
name was Muhammad ibn Muhammad 

Among the trustworthy students of al-Bukhaari
who heard his Saheeh directly from him and transmitted it to the
people with its isnaads in written form was the imam, hafiz, faqeeh and
qaadi, Abu Ishaaq Ibraaheem ibn Ma‘qil ibn al-Hajjaaj an-Nasafi (d. 295).
The copy of an- Nasafi was transmitted by Imam al-Khattaabi (may Allah have
mercy on him), as he said in his commentary A‘laam al-Hadeeth
(1/105): We heard most of this book from the narration of Ibraaheem ibn
Ma‘qil an- Nasafi. Khalaf ibn Muhammad al-Khayyaam told us: Ibraaheem ibn
Ma‘qil told us, from him. 

This is the most famous way that the
scholars of hadith had: they would read their books to their students, or
their students would read their books to them. Then those books would become
well-known through the students and narrators, not through the original
manuscript of the author, which was one copy that he kept for himself. There
were no printing presses or publishing houses at that time; instead of
printing presses there was the narration of students with strong isnaads. 

What would any researcher find more
authentic than the transmission of trustworthy narrators narrating from the
manuscripts that were read to (and checked with) the author himself and
approved by him, as they said concerning the copy of as-Saghaanni: He copied
it from the manuscript that was read to the author (may Allah have mercy on
him)”?

See: Fayd al-Baari by al-Kashmiri. 

If you want to ask about how old the
manuscripts that are extant today are, the Orientalist Manjana said in
Cambridge in 1936 CE that the oldest manuscript he had come across up to
that point was written in 370 AH, according to the narration of al-Mirwazi
from al-Farbari. See Tareekh at-Turaath by Fu’aad Sizkeen (1/228). 

One of the most famous manuscripts of the
book that has come down to us in modern times is the copy of al-Haafiz Abu
‘Ali as-Sadafi (d. 514 AH), which he copied from the manuscript written by
Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Mahmoud, which was read to Abu Dharr (may Allah have
mercy on him) and has his writing on it too. It was kept by al-‘Allaamah at-Taahir
ibn ‘Ashoor, who borrowed it from the library of Tobruk in Libya. 

There is also the copy of the imam and
hafiz Sharaf ad-Deen ‘Ali ibn Ahmad al-Yoonayni, who is known as al-Ba‘li
al-Hanbali (d. 701 AH). He checked it against the original copy that was
read to al-Haafiz Abu Dharr al-Harawi, and the original copy that was read
to al-Aseeli, and the original copy al-Haafiz Ibn ‘Asaakir, and the original
copy that was read to Abu’l-Waqt in the presence of the grammarian and
linguist Ibn Maalik, the author of al-Alfiyyah (d. 672 AH). 

And so on… if we were to keep listing the
copies of as-Saheeh that are extant in the manuscript libraries of
the world, and how close they were to the time when as-Saheeh was
written, and the large numbers of those who copied and checked them, and how
trustworthy they were, and how they checked their copies against the
authoritative main copies, that would take a great deal of time. It is
sufficient for you to go to one of the libraries where manuscripts are kept
and ask about Saheeh al-Bukhaari; you will find hundreds of copies
with sound chains of transmission going back to Imam al-Bukhaari himself.
Al-Fihris ash-Shaamil lists 2327 locations in various libraries in which
there are manuscripts of this book.

See: al-Fihris ash-Shaamil li’t-Turaath
al-‘Arabi al-Islami al-Makhtoot, al-Hadeeth an-Nabawi wa ‘Uloomuhu
(1/493-565). 

With regard to Saheeh Muslim, it is
no less well-known and widespread than the Saheeh of Imam al-Bukhaari,
as Brockelmann said: Saheeh Muslim almost matches Saheeh al-Bukhaari
in the number of manuscripts and their presence in most libraries, as he
stated in The History of Arabic Literature (3/180) 

It has many chains of transmission which
confirm that the book is soundly attributed to its author. The number of
such chains of transmission is almost unlimited, to such an extent that a
number of scholars wrote books just to discuss the chains of transmission of
Saheeh Muslim; there are eight such books, one of the last of which
was the book by al-Kattaani (d. 1327 AH) entitled Juz’ Asaaneed
Saheeh Muslim. 

Shaykh Mashhoor Hasan Salmaan said: 

A group of people learned this book from
Muslim, one of the most famous of whom was Ibraaheem ibn Muhammad ibn
Sufyaan. He heard it from its author no less than three times, and he
checked it against the copy of his shaykh, Muslim. Muslim’s copy was very
precious and dear to him; he carried it with him to ar-Rayy and placed it
before Abu Zur‘ah ar-Raazi and Ibn Waarah looked at it. A number of scholars
learned it from Sufyaan; among them was al-Jaloodi. His copy was in
circulation among the students and some of them made a copy of it… Many of
these copies were very precise and were read to some prominent scholars and
checked against other manuscripts. Therefore the scholars used it as a
reference for research and discussion; they used to refer to it when dealing
with issues and problems. There are many manuscript copies of as-Saheeh
in libraries throughout the world, and hardly any library is without it.
These copies vary in the dates at which they were copied and they vary in
condition. 

In the library of al-Qarawiyyeen in Fez up
till now there is a very precious copy of it; this is the copy of Ibn Khayr
al-Ishbeeli, which he checked many times (against other manuscripts); he
heard it read to him and he read it to other shaykhs, to such an extent that
it is regarded as the greatest extant manuscript of Saheeh Muslim
in North Africa. Written on it in the handwriting of Ibn Khayr is a note
stating that he checked it against three other original manuscripts of the
copy of al-Haafiz Abu ‘Ali al-Jiyaani.

End quote from al-Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj
wa Manhajuhu fi’s-Saheeh (1/375-376) 

As for the claim that “some of the
commentators on al-Bukhaari discussed the meaning of some hadeeths that are
not in al-Bukhaari”, we have not found a single example of that. Differences
in the reports in Saheeh al-Bukhaari only occur in a few, very minor
cases having to do with the isnaads or some phrases in the texts, or the
chapter headings. But to suggest that there are some independent hadeeths
under some headings that were mentioned in some manuscripts but not others,
we could not find any example of that. 

Even if we assume that they exist, it is
not something to object to or find strange. If the narrators who narrated
from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) differed
sometimes, whereby some of the Sahaabah narrated the hadeeth with a
particular wording, and others narrated it with a different wording, or some
of the Sahaabah narrated a hadeeth and others did not remember it, in dozens
of examples, that does not undermine the principle of the Prophetic Sunnah,
and it does not shed doubt on the trustworthiness of the Sahaabah who
narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). So it
is more appropriate that the fact that there are slight differences between
the narrators of al-Jaami‘ as-Saheeh should not undermine the basic
authenticity of the book or its trustworthiness or its hadeeths and
reports. 

We do not doubt that a lack of experience
in dealing with the classical Islamic legacy – and indeed a lack of
knowledge about the nature of history and manuscripts altogether – is the
reason for such misleading ideas or extreme ignorance and lack of
understanding on the part of the one who says that. 

Otherwise, anyone who has any knowledge of
these branches of knowledge will be certain that minor differences in
reports or manuscripts in classical books is something natural in the light
of the fact that people in the past relied on copying by hand, and because
means of communication were very simple, and copyists were sometimes
imprecise in adhering to the original text; indeed they were sometimes
unaware of alterations that the author himself had introduced to his book
that would lead to some differences in the copies, as happened in the case
of Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Sunan Abi Dawood, al-Muwatta’ by
Imam Maalik, and the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Indeed that
also happened in the case of the poetry of the Jaahiliyyah before that, and
in the books of Plato, Aristotle, and the entire legacy of Greek philosophy,
and in the case of both the Torah and the Gospel. 

We hope that by giving these brief
highlights, readers will be alerted to the nature of these specious
arguments that are made and will realise that a little rational thinking,
with a little experience, will be sufficient to ward off all these specious
arguments. 

See: Riwaayaat wa Nusakh al-Jaami‘ as-Saheeh
li’l-Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismaa‘eel al-Bukhaari: Diraasah wa
Tahleel, by Dr. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Kareem ibn ‘Ubayd, which was of
great use to us in preparing the answer given above. 

And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.The obligation to make up missed prayers
Whoever omits an obligatory prayer until the time for it has ended, one of the following must be the case: either he omitted it for a legitimate reason such as falling asleep or forgetting, or he omitted it without any excuse.
If a person omits a prayer for a legitimate reason, there is no sin on him, but he must offer it when he wakes up or remembers. If a person omits it deliberately, then he has committed a grave sin and he must make it up according to many scholars; others favoured the view that he cannot make it up, but he is required to repent, pray for forgiveness, regret it, and do a lot of righteous deeds. 
Is there any special prayer on the last Friday of Ramadan?
The report that speaks of a prayer that may be offered by one who omitted a prayer deliberately until the time for it ended, so that it may be an expiation for his deeds, is a lie and is falsely attributed to Islamic teaching. There follow some comments of the scholars concerning that: 
1. Ash-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
“The hadith “Whoever prays the five obligatory prayers of the night and day on the last Friday of Ramadan, that will make up for what he missed of prayers during that year” is undoubtedly mawdu‘ (fabricated). I could not find it in any of the books in which the authors compiled fabricated hadiths, but it is well-known among a group of people who claim to have knowledge in the city of San‘a nowadays, and many of them do that! I do not know who fabricated it and told it to them; may Allah curse the liars.” (Al-Ahadith al-Mawdu‘ah, p. 54) 
2. The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas said: 
“Prayer is an act of worship and the basic principle concerning it is tawqif i.e., stopping at what has been narrated in Shari‘ah (and not introducing anything new); the issue of making up the prayers and details of how to do that is something to be learned from texts and it is not valid to refer to anything in this regard except the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and the consensus based on both of them or one of them. 
There is no proof from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), or from his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), or from the leaders of guidance (may Allah have mercy on them) that they offered this prayer or instructed or encouraged others to do so. 
If it was something established, then his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) would have known about it and would have transmitted it to us, and the leaders of guidance after them would have guided us to it. But there is no proof to that effect from any of them in word or in deed. 
That indicates that what is mentioned in the question about the “prayer to make up for the prayers of a lifetime (salat al-qada al-‘umri)” is a bid‘ah that has been introduced into Islam for which Allah has not prescribed. It is proven from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he said: “Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours that is not part of it will have it rejected.” (Agreed upon). Rather what the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) instructed us to do is to make up the prayers that one misses because of falling asleep or forgetting until the time for them ends, and he explained to us that we should offer those prayers as they are usually offered when we wake up or remember, not on the last Friday of Ramadan.” (Fatawa al-Lajnah ad-Daimah, 8/167, 168) Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Razzaq ‘Afifi, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Ghadyan, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Qa‘ud 
3. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: 
There is a group of people who have a custom in Ramadan, which is to offer the five obligatory prayers after a prayer on the last Friday (of Ramadan), and they say that this is to make up for any obligatory prayers that a person did not offer or that he forgot in Ramadan. What is the ruling on this prayer? 
He replied: 
“The ruling concerning this prayer is that it is an innovation (bid‘ah) and it has no basis in Islamic teachings; it will only take a person further away from his Lord, because the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance will be in the Fire.” No matter how much the followers of an innovation like it and regard it as good in their own minds, it is something bad before Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, because His Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance will be in the Fire.” These five daily prayers that a person makes up on the last Friday of Ramadan have no basis in Islamic teaching. Moreover, we say: has this person missed only five prayers? Perhaps he missed a number of days, not a number of prayers? 
What matters is that so long as a person is aware that he has missed prayers, he must make them up when he realises that, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever sleeps and misses a prayer or forgets it, let him offer it when he remembers it” (Agreed upon). But if a person does these five prayers to be on the safe side – as they claim – that is something reprehensible and is not permitted.” (Majmu‘ Fatawa ash-Shaykh al-‘Uthaymin, 12/227, 228) 
4. Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan (may Allah preserve him) was asked: 
I read a hadith from the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in which he said: “Whoever misses a prayer during his life and cannot remember what it was, let him get up on the last Friday of Ramadan and pray four rak‘ahs with one tashahhud, reciting in each rak‘ah the Opening of the Book (i.e., al-Fatihah) and Surat al-Qadr fifteen times, and Surat al-Kawthar the same number of times, and let him say in his intention: I intend to pray four rak‘ahs as expiation for what I have missed of prayers.” How sound is this hadith? 
He replied: 
“There is no basis for this in the Sunnah of the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). What is proven from the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is that he said: “Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps and misses it, let him offer it when he remembers it. There is no expiation for that except this” (agreed upon). With regard to the prayers that you missed previously, if you missed them because of sleep – for example – or because you were unconscious, or for some excuse that you thought made it permissible for you to delay them, then what you must do is make them up and offer them in order. If you missed them deliberately, then the more correct of the two scholarly views is that you must repent to Allah, because the one who misses prayer deliberately is in a grave position, even if he does not deny that they are obligatory. The correct view is that he has become a disbeliever by doing that. So you must repent to Allah if you missed them deliberately, and you must persist in offering prayers regularly in the future, and may Allah accept your repentance. 
But if you missed them because of sleep or unconsciousness, or something else that prevented you from offering them on time, then you have no choice but to make them up. As for offering this prayer that you mentioned at the end of Ramadan in this manner, there is no basis for that in the Islamic religion, and it will not make up for the prayers that you missed.”
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.Al-Bukhaari (6491) and Muslim (131) narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, relating from his Lord, may He be glorified and exalted: “Allah decreed good deeds and bad deeds, then He explained that. Whoever thinks of doing a good deed then does not do it, Allah will write it down as one complete good deed. If he thinks of doing a good deed and then does it, Allah [may He be glorified and exalted] will write it down between ten and seven hundred fold, or many more. If he thinks of doing a bad deed then he does not do it, Allah will write it down as one complete good deed, and if he thinks of it then does it, Allah will write it down as one bad deed.” 
Al-Bukhaari (5269) and Muslim (127) also narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will forgive my ummah for whatever crosses their minds so long as they do not act upon it or speak of it.” 
Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
These texts refer to four matters: the recording of good deeds and bad deeds, and thinking of good deeds and bad deeds. This is four matters.  
Then he said: 
… The third matter: thinking of good deeds. It is recorded as one complete good deed even if he does not do it, as it says in the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas and elsewhere. … In the hadeeth of Khuraym ibn Faatik it says: “… If a person thinks of doing a good deed but then does not do it and Allah knows that he thought of it and was keen to do it, He records for him one good deed…” [Narrated by Ahmad, 18556. al-Arna’oot said: Its isnaad is hasan. It was mentioned by al-Albaani in as-Saheehah]. This indicates that what is meant by “thinking of” here is the determination and resolve that are usually present when one is keen to do an action, not merely a passing thought that is not accompanied by any resolve or determination. 
Abu’d-Darda’ said: If a person goes to his bed, intending to pray during the night (qiyaam), then sleep overtakes him until morning comes, what he intended to do will be recorded for him. 
It was narrated that Sa‘eed ibn al-Musayyab said: If a person thinks of praying, fasting, going for Hajj or ‘Umrah, or going for jihad, then he is prevented from doing that, Allah will grant him the reward of what he wanted to do. 
Abu ‘Imraan al-Jawni said: It is said to the angel: Record such and such for So and so. He says: O Lord, he did not do it. He says: He intended it. 
Zayd ibn Aslam said: A man used to go around among the scholars, saying: Who will tell me of a deed that I may keep doing for Allah, for I do not like any hour of the day or night to come to me except I am striving for the sake of Allah, may He be exalted. It was said to him: You have found what you are looking for. Do good as much as you are able to, then when you become tired or you stop doing it, think about doing it, for the one who thinks about doing a good deed is like the one who does it. 
If the intention is accompanied by words or effort, the reward is ensured and the one who intended it is like the one who does it, as Abu Kabshah narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“[People] in this world are of four types: a person to whom Allah grants wealth and knowledge, so he fears his Lord with regard to it, upholds his ties of kinship with it, and acknowledges the rights of Allah concerning it – he is of the highest status. (The second is) a person to whom Allah grants knowledge but He does not grant him wealth, so he is sincere in his intention and says: If I had wealth, I would do the same as So and so does. He will be rewarded according to his intention and their reward will be the same. (The third type) is a person to whom Allah grants wealth, but He does not grant him knowledge, so he squanders his wealth without knowledge; he does not fear his Lord concerning it, he does not uphold his ties of kinship with it and he does not acknowledge the rights of Allah concerning it – he is of the worst status. (And the fourth type is) a person to whom Allah does not grant either wealth or knowledge, so he says: If I had wealth, I would do the same as So and so does. He will be requited according to his intention and their burden of sin will be the same.”
Narrated by Imam Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Maajah. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani because of corroborating evidence. 
The phrase “Their reward will be the same” is understood as meaning that they are equal with regard to the basic reward for actions, but not with regard to the multiplication of that reward. Multiplication of reward is only for the one who actually does a deed, not the one who intends it but does not do it. If they were equal in all regards, a tenfold reward would be recorded for the one who thought of a good deed but did not do it, and this is contrary to all the texts. That is indicated by the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home). Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight, above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward” [an-Nisa’ 4:95]. Ibn ‘Abbaas and others said: Those who sit (at home), above whom those who strive hard and fight are preferred in grades are those who have excuses, and those who sit (at home), above whom those who strive hard and fight are preferred by a huge reward, are those who do not have excuses. 
Then he (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
The fourth matter is thinking of evil deeds without doing them. In the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas it says that this will be recorded as one complete good deed. Similarly in the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah, Anas and others it says that it will be recorded as a hasanah (good deed). In the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah it says “for he gave it up for My sake” (Muslim, 129). This indicates that what is meant is that if a person was able to do what he thought of of sin, but gave it up for the sake of Allah, may He be exalted, one good deed will undoubtedly be recorded for him for that, because his refraining from committing that sin for that reason is a righteous deed. 
But if he thinks of committing a sin, then does not do it for fear of other people, or in order to show off to them, then it was said that he will be punished for refraining from it with that intention, because giving precedence to fear of people over fear of Allah is haraam, just as aiming to show off to people is also haraam. If refraining from the sin is accompanied by such intentions, then he will be punished for refraining. 
Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaad said: They used to say: Refraining from doing something for the sake of people is showing off and doing it for their sake is shirk. 
But if he tries to do it by all available means then is prevented from doing it because it is not decreed that he should do it, in that case a number of scholars stated that he will be punished for it, because of the hadeeth, “… so long as he does not speak of it or act upon it.” So if a person strives to commit a sin, then is unable to do it, he has acted upon it. Similarly, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When two Muslims confront one another with their swords, the slayer and the slain will both be in Hell.” I said – or it was said – O Messenger of Allah, (we understand about) the slayer, but what about the slain? He said: “He wanted to kill his companion.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 31: Muslim, 2888). The words “so long as he does not speak of it or act upon it” indicate that if the one who thinks of a sin speaks of what he was thinking of, then he will be punished for thinking of it in that case, because he has committed a sin with his physical faculties, which is speaking with his tongue. That is also indicated by the hadeeth of Abu Kabshah quoted above, who said: (The fourth type of person) says: “If I had wealth, I would do with it what So and so does”, referring to the one who disobeyed Allah with his wealth. He said: “Their burden of sin will be the same.” 
Then he (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
But if he changes his intention and gives up his resolve for no reason, will he be punished for what he thought of of sin, or not? 
There are two scenarios: 
The first is if his thinking of sin was a passing thought that he did not dwell on and it did not take root in his heart; rather he disliked it and was put off by it. This will be forgiven; it is like the awful thoughts or whispers that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was asked about, and he said: “That is clear faith.” [Narrated by Muslim, 132] 
When the verse (interpretation of the meaning) “…whether you disclose what is in your ownselves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills…” [al-Baqarah 2:284] was revealed, that was distressing for the Muslims and they thought that it included these passing thoughts. Then the following verse was revealed, in which it says (interpretation of the meaning): “Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear” [al-Baqarah 2:286]. (Narrated by Muslim, 126). This proved that with regard to that which they had no strength to bear, they would not be punished or brought to account for it, and it became clear that what was meant in the first verse was things that they resolved and intended to do. 
The second scenario is things that one has resolved and intends to do, that occurred to one’s mind and become established, and one dwells on them. These are of two types: 
(i)Acts of the heart (that have to do with belief), such as doubting or disbelieving in the Oneness of Allah, or Prophethood, or the Prophet’s mission, and other kinds of disbelief and hypocrisy. These are all things for which a person will be punished and by means of which he becomes a disbeliever and a hypocrite.
We may add to these all sins that have to do with the heart, such as loving that which Allah hates, hating that which Allah loves, arrogance, self admiration, etc. 
(ii)The second type has to do with that which is not actions of the heart; rather they are physical actions, such as zina, stealing, drinking alcohol, murder, slander and so on. If a person persists in wanting to do such things and resolving to do them, but he shows no outward indication of that, then there are two well-known scholarly views as to whether he will be held accountable for that.
The first view is that he will be held accountable for it. Ibn al-Mubaarak said: I asked Sufyaan ath-Thawri: Will a person be held accountable for thinking (of committing a sin)? He said: If he has resolved to do it, he will be held accountable. This view was regarded as more correct by many of the fuqaha’, scholars of hadeeth and scholars of kalaam among our companions and others. They quoted as evidence for that verses such as the following (interpretation of the meaning):
“And know that Allah knows what is in your minds, so fear Him”
[al-Baqarah 2:235]
“but He will call you to account for that which your hearts have earned”
[al-Baqarah 2:225]. 
(They also quoted as evidence) hadeeths such as that in which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Sin is that which wavers in your heart and you do not want the people to find out about it” (narrated by Muslim, 2553). They interpreted the hadeeth “Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will forgive my ummah for whatever crosses their minds so long as they do not act upon it or speak of it” as referring to passing thoughts and they said: Whatever a person dwells on and it takes root in his heart is included in what he earns and does, so it is not included in this hadeeth. 
The second view is that he will not be held accountable for mere intentions in all cases. This view is attributed to ash-Shaafa‘i and is also the view of Ibn Haamid among our companions, based on general meanings. Al-‘Awfi narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas something which is indicative of the same view…
End quote from Jaami‘ al-‘Uloom wa’l-Hikam, commentary on hadeeth no 37 (2/343-353). 
To sum up: 
If a person thinks of doing a good deed, and it takes root in his heart and he resolves to do that, what he intended to do will be recorded for him, even if he does not do it, although the reward for the one who does do it is better and greater. 
If a person thinks of doing a bad deed, then refrains from it for the sake of Allah, one complete good deed will be recorded for him. 
If a person thinks of doing a bad deed, then refrains from it for the sake of people, or he tries to do it but is prevented from doing so, one bad deed will be recorded against him. 
If a person thinks of doing it, then he changes his intention after having intended it, if it was only a passing thought he will not be held accountable for it, but if it was one of the deeds of the heart that had nothing to do with physical actions (i.e., it has to do with belief), then he will be held accountable for it. If it was a physical action and he persisted in thinking of it and resolved to do it, then the majority of scholars are of the view that he will be held accountable for it. 
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after quoting al-Baaqillaani’s opinion that the individual will be held accountable in this case: 
Al-Qaadi ‘Iyaad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The majority of the early generation and the scholars, including the fuqaha’ and the muhadditheen, are of the same view as al-Qaadi Abu Bakr, because of the hadeeths which indicate that people will be held accountable for actions of the heart (i.e., that have to do with beliefs). 
But they said: This resolve will be recorded as one bad deed, and it is not the bad deed that the individual thought of, because he did not do it and he refrained from it for a reason other than fear of Allah. But persisting and resolving in and of itself is a sin, so it will be recorded as a sin, and if he does it, it will be recorded as a second sin. But if he refrains from it for fear of Allah, may He be exalted, it will be recorded as a good deed, as it says in the hadeeth, “for he gave it up for My sake”, thus his giving it up out of fear of Allah, may He be exalted, his striving to overcome his nafs that is inclined towards evil, and his going against his whims and desires is in fact a good deed. The type of thinking of an action that is not to be recorded against the individual is the passing thought that does not take root in the heart and is not accompanied by intention or resolve.
End quote from Sharh Muslim, 2/151 
Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) favoured the view that (when a person commits a sin), it will only be recorded as one sin, without any multiplication, so the punishment is for the sin, and thinking of it is not added to it, because if thinking of it were added to the sin, the individual would be punished twice for committing one sin. We cannot say that this may also be applicable to good deeds and that one does a good deed after thinking of it, he should be rewarded for the good deed but not for thinking of it. We say that this is not correct, because if a person does a good deed, a tenfold reward will be recorded for him, and it may be that some of that is as a reward for thinking of doing the good deed. And Allah knows best. End quote. 
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.Firstly:
The writing down of the hadiths refers, in general terms, to the narrator writing down his reports on paper. This was known from the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
The main reason for that was to document and protect the reports from being lost or forgotten.
This reason is so clear that there is no need for further discussion of proof.
One example of that is what was narrated by al-Bukhari (113) from Abu Hurayrah, who said: There is no one among the companions of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who narrated more from him than me, except ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, who wrote down his hadiths and I did not.
At the time of the Sahabah and senior Tabi‘in, there were a number of people who wrote down some of their reports, but they did not pay attention to documenting the hadiths in a specific manner, compiling them in books as the Quran was compiled in one mushaf. There are a number of reports which indicate that they were not in favour of compiling the hadiths in a book.
There were two reasons for that:
-1-
They wanted to protect the Quran from being abandoned, or to avoid anything being written down at the time when the Sahabah were collecting the Quran in writing, lest the two things become mixed and confused.
-2-
At that time, the hadiths contained only the words and actions of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) which explained the verses of the Quran. The isnads (chains of narration) were also brief and were hardly mentioned; they were not so lengthy that the Arabs would not be able to memorize them, for they were people who had excellent memories and were keen to maintain that skill by memorizing things. Moreover, the hadiths are not like the Quran, recitation of which is an act of worship; the hadiths are to be acted upon. As that is the case, there was no need for each of the Sahabah to know all the hadiths with their exact wording; rather it was sufficient for each of them to know some of the hadiths, then ask one another [about other hadiths] when necessary.
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Mu‘allimi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
In Islamic terms, what matters with regard to the hadiths is their meanings. They are not like the Quran, in which what matters is both the exact wording and the meaning, because it is the word of Allah in both wording and meaning, and is miraculous in both wording and meaning, and it is recited as an act of worship with its wording exactly as it was revealed. So it is no wonder that Allah reduced their burden and made it sufficient, in most cases, for some of the Sahabah to be aware of the hadiths and convey them.”(Al-Anwar al-Kashifah, in Athar al-Mu‘allimi 12/43).
Some of them at that time would narrate hadiths and would seek out hadiths when necessary for practical reasons, so that they could act upon them, without going beyond that.
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Mu‘allimi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
… It was narrated from ‘Umar that he forbade narrating a lot of hadiths, and he did that for two reasons:
-1-
‘Umar’s preference was that narrating hadiths should only be done when needed.
-2-
What he stated clearly, which was that he preferred people not to be distracted from the Quran by listening to hadiths when there was no need to do so.
It was narrated from him that he said: “Narrate few hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and only narrate that which is needed to be acted upon.”
The reference to acting in this quotation is general in meaning, and includes acts of worship, interactions with others and etiquette.”(Al-Anwar al-Kashifah, in Athar al-Mu‘allimi  12/61).
Dealing with the situation in that manner made it easy for them to memorize what they needed, therefore there was no urgent need to write the hadiths in a book. This is similar to the case of the Quran, which was revealed little by little, which made it easy for them to memorize it without needing to have the entire Quran in one book.
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It has been proven that those who did not like to write down hadiths during the early period of Islam only disliked that so that no other book would be given the same importance as the Book of Allah, and the people would not be distracted from the Quran by anything else. Thus the Muslims were forbidden to acquire and read the previous Scriptures, because it is not possible to know what of their contents is true and what is false. Moreover, the Quran is sufficient and there is no need for the earlier Scriptures, because it supersedes them. And books of knowledge were prohibited during the earliest period, when Islam was very new, because there were so few people with proper knowledge at that time who could distinguish between revelation and other things. Most of the Bedouin had no understanding of religion and did not spend time with the scholars and knowledgeable people, so there was the possibility that they might confuse the books of hadith with the words of Allah in the Quran, and might believe that what was contained in the books of hadith was the words of Allah.
The people were instructed to memorize hadiths, because the isnads were short, as it was not long after the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). They were forbidden to rely on books, because that would lead to a decline in memorization to the point that it would be almost non-existent, but if there was no writing down of hadiths, then people’s memories would become strong, for a person’s memory is with him wherever he goes.”(Taqyid al-‘Ilm  p. 57).
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Those scholars who disapproved of the writing down of hadiths disapproved for two reasons:
The first reason was so that there would be no book that was given the same importance as the Quran.
The second reason was so that the one who wrote down hadiths would not rely on what he had written and forego memorizing, in which case there would be fewer people who memorized hadiths.”(Jami‘ Bayan al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi  1/292).
Secondly:
Later on, especially in the second century AH, there emerged an urgent need to write down the hadiths in books, because the situation had changed. The hadiths had become widely circulated among people, because when the Tabi‘in realized that the number of Sahabah and senior Tabi‘in was declining due to their dying, they strove to seek out the hadiths that they had narrated, which they collected and kept in written form.
Al-Bukhari (99) narrated from ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz that he wrote to Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, saying: Seek out whatever hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) are extant and write them down, for I am afraid that with the death of the scholars, knowledge will disappear.
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Mu‘allimi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
As a matter-of-fact, some of the senior Sahabah thought that conveying of hadiths was only to be done at a time of need, and they thought that if they conveyed hadiths to others when there was no need for that, there was the possibility of error for which they could be called to account, unlike when there was a need, in which case conveying what they knew of hadith was a must, and either Allah would protect them from error or a He would not bring them to account for it. Hence hadiths were narrated from all of them, and it was never narrated from any of them that he knew a hadith, but when there was a need to act according to its guidelines he refused to narrate it.
Some other Sahabah narrated hadiths even when there was no need for that, because they thought that conveying them before the need arose was something good, as the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Narrate from me, and there is nothing wrong with it.” And there is other evidence which speaks of conveying knowledge and conveying hadiths.
Each of the two views has a point, and the scholars were all aiming to do good.
But when the number of Sahabah became few, the view of the second group carried more weight.”(Al-Anwar al-Kashifah, in Athar al-Mu‘allimi 12/61).
This is like the case of the Quran at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): there was no urgent need to put it all together in a written book, but as the reciters among the Sahabah who had memorized it began to die one after another, there emerged the need to compile it all in one master copy.
It was narrated from ‘Ubayd ibn as-Sabbaq that Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Abu Bakr sent for me when the people of Yamamah had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet’s Companions who fought against Musaylimah). (I went to him) and found ‘Umar bin al-Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said (to me):‘ ‘Umar has come to me and said: Casualties were heavy among the reciters of the Quran (i.e. those who knew the Quran by heart) at the Battle of Yamamah, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the reciters on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Quran may be lost. Therefore I suggest that you [Abu Bakr] should issue orders that the Quran be collected.” Narrated by al-Bukhari (4986).
And there are many similar reports, because the hadiths had begun to include the fatwas and verdicts of the Sahabah, then the views and fatwas of the Tabi‘in.
‘Abd ar-Razzaq narrated in al-Musannaf (11/258) from Ma‘mar that Salih ibn Kaysan said: I met Ibn Shihab when we were both seeking knowledge, and we agreed to write down some hadiths and other reports. So we wrote down everything that was narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), then we wrote down what was narrated from his companions. I said: No, it is not part of the Sunnah. But he said: Yes, it is part of the Sunnah. So he wrote it down and I did not; he did well and I missed out.
Then the isnads (chains of narration) became lengthy and numerous, because the number of narrators increased.
In addition to that, many views of innovators began to spread among the people, and views based on personal opinion and fabrications of hadiths and reports also became widespread.
All of this prompted the leading scholars of hadith and Sunnah to compile what they had collected of hadiths in specialized books, so as to preserve the Sunnah and spread it among people.
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Scholars only began to write down knowledge and rely on writing down hadiths in books, after having been reluctant to do that, because hadiths and reports had become widespread; isnads had become longer; the names, kunyahs and lineages of narrators had become numerous; and technical terms varied, and people were unable to memorize all of that…”(Taqyid al-‘Ilm  p. 64).
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
You should understand, may Allah increase me and you in knowledge, that the reports of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) were not written down in books at the time of his Companions and the senior Tabi‘in, and they were not sorted into categories, for two reasons:
The first reason was because, in the beginning, they were forbidden to do that, as is proven in Sahih Muslim, because of the fear that some of that might become mixed with the Quran.
The second reason was because they had the ability to memorise things and their minds were clear, and because most of them did not know how to read and write.
Then towards the end of the time of the Tabi‘in, the writing down of hadiths and reports began, and similar hadiths and reports were grouped together in different categories, when the scholars scattered throughout different regions, and a lot of innovations appeared on the part of the Kharijis, Rafidis and those who denied the divine decree (Qadaris).
The first ones to compile the reports in books were ar-Rabi‘ ibn Subayh and Sa‘id ibn Abi ‘Urubah…”(Hadi as-Sari p. 6).
This has to do with general reasons, but there may have been specific reasons too. The author of each book may have had a specific motive, on the basis of which he chose to put hadiths in certain categories. For example, it is well known that al-Bukhari divided his book al-Jami‘ as-Sahih [Sahih al-Bukhari] into various categories for certain reasons.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari said: We were with Ishaq ibn Rahawayh and he said: Why do you not write a brief book in which you record the sound hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)?
He said: I liked that idea, so I began to compile the book of al-Jami‘ as-Sahih [Sahih al-Bukhari] …”(Hadi as-Sari  7).
Abu Musa al-Madini narrated in Khasa’is Musnad al-Imam Ahmad (p. 14):
It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: I said to my father (may Allah have mercy on him): Why did you not like people to write books, then you did al-Musnad?
He said: I wrote this book to be a reference book, so that if people differed concerning the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), they can refer to it. End quote.
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.A hadeeth concerning this was narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) but it is da’eef (weak). 
In al-Jaami’ al-Sagheer, al-Suyooti attributed it to Ibn Shaheen in his Targheeb: It was narrated from al-Diya’ from Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The month of Ramadaan is suspended between heaven and earth and is not taken up to Allaah except by zakaat al-fitr.” 
It was classed as da’eef by al-Suyooti. Al-Mannaawi explained the reason for that in Fayd al-Qadeer, where he said: It was narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Waahiyaat and he said: it is not saheeh; its isnaad includes Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd al-Basri who is majhool (unknown). 
It was also classed as da’eef by al-Albaani in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth al-Da’eefah (43). He said: Even if the hadeeth were saheeh, the apparent meaning is that acceptance of the Ramadaan fast is dependent upon payment of sadaqat al-fitr, and if a person does not pay it, his fast will not be accepted, but I do not know of any scholar who says that … and the hadeeth is not saheeh. End quote. 
As the hadeeth is not saheeh, no one can say that the fast of Ramadaan is only accepted with zakaat al-fitr, because no one can know that except the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). 
It is proven in Sunan Abi Dawood that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) enjoined zakaat al-fitr as a purification for the fasting person from idle speech and obscene talk, and to feed the poor.” Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan Abi Dawood. 
This hadeeth explains the wisdom behind zakaat al-fitr, which is to make up for any shortfall that occurred during fasting. It does not say that fasting will not be accepted without zakaat al-fitr. 
And Allaah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.With regard to memorizing and learning the Prophet’s Sunnah, undoubtedly the basic principle is that all of that – for the one who is able – should be done in Arabic, the language in which the revelation came, and in which the hadiths were narrated in the books of Sunnah. This is better than memorizing the meanings translated into other languages, for two important reasons:
The first reason is:
Arabic is one of the symbols of Islam, and it is the language that was chosen by Allah, may He be exalted, to transmit the message of Islam. Whenever the Muslim is able to learn his religion in this language, he should not turn to any other language. This was the view of the righteous early generations.
Ash-Shafa‘i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Every Muslim must learn as much of the language of the Arabs as he is able to so that he can testify in Arabic that La ilaha illa Allah wa Muhammad ‘abduhu wa rasuluhu (there is no god worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger), and he can recite the Book of Allah in Arabic, and recite the words of dhikr that he is enjoined to recite, such as takbir, tasbih and the tashahhud, and so on.
The more knowledge he can learn in the language which Allah made the language of the last of His Prophets and in which He revealed the last of His Books, the better it will be for him. End quote from ar-Risalah (p. 48-49).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Ash-Shafa‘i said: … The language which Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, chose was the language of the Arabs, in which He sent down His holy Book, and He made it the language of the last of His Prophets, Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
Hence we say: everyone who is able to learn Arabic should learn it, because it is the foremost language that one should strive to learn, without forbidding anyone to speak a non-Arabic language.
Ash-Shafa‘i regarded it as disliked for one who knows Arabic to give names in any other language, or to speak it mixed with foreign words. What the leading scholars said concerning this issue was narrated from the Sahabah and Tabi‘in. End quote from Iqtida’ as-Sirat al-Mustaqim (1/521-522).
The second reason is:
Translated hadiths are translations of the meanings, and there are a number of hadiths in which the words are to be pronounced as they are in Arabic, so the one who memorizes them should pay attention to their pronunciation in Arabic as much as he is able, such as the hadiths which mention adhkar. This is indicated by the hadith of al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib, who said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“When you go to your bed, do wudu’ as for prayer, then lie down on your right side and say: 
Allahumma aslamtu wajhi ilayka wa fawwadtu amri ilayka wa alja’tu zahri ilayka raghbatan wa rahbatan ilayka, la malja’a wa laa manjaa minka illa ilayka. Allahumma amantu bi kitabika alladhi anzalta wa nabiyyika alladhi arsalta (O Allah I submit my face to You, and I entrust my affairs to You, and I rely totally on You in hope and in fear of You. Verily there is no refuge nor safe haven from You except with You. O Allah, I believe in Your Book which You have revealed and in Your Prophet whom You have sent).  
Then if you die during the night, you will have died following the fitrah (sound nature of man). Make these the last words that you speak.” 
He said: I repeated it back to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and when I reached the words. “Allahumma aamantu bi kitaabika alladhi anzalta (O Allah, I believe in Your Book which You have revealed),” I said: “Wa rasulika (And Your Messenger).” He said: “No. Wa nabiyyika alladhi arsalta (and Your Prophet whom You sent).”
Narrated by al-Bukhari (247) and Muslim (2710).
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The most appropriate thing that can be said regarding the reason why the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) corrected the one who said “rasul (messenger)” instead of “nabi (prophet)” is that the wording of adhkar is tawqifi [i.e., they can only be known through divine Revelation and sound texts of hadith, with no room for ijtihad or alteration]. They must be recited as the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) recited them, because that pronunciation has special effects and benefits, and they should not be altered. Therefore they must be recited with the same pronunciation that was narrated from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This is the view favoured by al-Maziri… End quote from Fath al-Bari (11/112).
With regard to other hadiths, in many cases there is a difference of scholarly opinion regarding their interpretation, so a translation will be based on the meaning favoured by the translator, or on what he understood, which may based on a weaker scholarly view, or it may be based on his own understanding which is incorrect, or it may be incorrectly expressed in the language into which it is translated.
In some hadiths, the Arabic wording may indicate a number of meanings, some of which are lost in translation, so the one who reads the translation understands only one meaning, and if the translator aimed to encompass all the meanings that are contained in the hadith, the translation would be so long that the one who wants to memorize it would tire of it.
But for the one who is not able to learn Arabic or memorize in Arabic, so he memorizes in his own language, he is still doing well. All that he is lacking is the pronunciation in Arabic, but if understands the meaning, this is beneficial knowledge that he has acquired, even if that has to do with adhkar, supplications (du‘a’s), ruqyah and the like. So there is nothing wrong with him offering supplication in translation, and remembering Allah in his language that he is able to speak.
For more information, see the answers to questions no. 262254 and 318586 .
Conclusion:
The one who is able to learn Arabic should study the Prophet’s Sunnah and memorize it in Arabic, with the pronunciation narrated in the books of Sunnah, because Arabic is a symbol of Islam and is the language in which the revelation came.
Memorizing in Arabic means memorizing the pronunciation, and in some cases the pronunciation is essential and required, such as adhkar. That will also preserve the full meanings, some of which may be lost in translation.
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.We may sum up our advice concerning the methodology of seeking knowledge of hadeeth as follows: 
Firstly: 
Paying a great deal of attention to memorising the texts of the Prophet’s Sunnah, because this is the aim and purpose for which the scholars established all the sciences of hadeeth. So it is not permissible for the seeker of knowledge to be distracted from the aim by the means. 
Memorising the texts of the Prophet’s Sunnah begins with memorising the hadeeths on which there is agreement between the two Saheehs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim), then by memorising those which were narrated only by al-Bukhaari, then by memorising those that were narrated only by Muslim. This will lead to accomplishing the first and most important stage in forming the hadeeth mentality in the one who is seeking knowledge of hadeeth. 
After that, he moves on to memorising hadeeths that are extra to those of the two Saheehs, which are to be found in the six books and the well-known Musnads. He may seek help in doing so by means of many books in which these extra reports (zawaa’id) are compiled and classified. 
The best ways of memorising include repeating the text to be memorised for a few days after the day on which he memorises it. This method was recommended by az-Zarnooshi (may Allah have mercy on him) when he said: 
The seeker of knowledge should recite the text repeatedly because he will not be able to memorise properly until he does that. He should repeat what he memorised on the previous day five times, and repeat what he memorised the day before that four times, and repeat what he memorised on the day before that three times, and what he memorised on the day before that two times, and what he memorised before that one time. This will help him to memorise and repeat. End quote. 
Ta‘leem at-Ta‘allum, p. 60 
If the student is not able to memorise completely, then he should do no less than reading these hadeeths often, so that he will be able to call them to mind and have a full comprehension of them.
This topic has been discussed in detail previously in the answer to question no. 113469 
Secondly: 
It is essential for the seeker of hadeeth knowledge to memorise different types of isnaads and whatever he can memorise of the names and biographies of narrators. The isnaads of the Prophet’s Sunnah can be divided – in terms of how well known they are – into three categories: 
1.
Well known isnaads, through any of which hundreds of hadeeths were narrated and they are regarded as one of the main channels through which the Prophet’s Sunnah came to us. Indeed there is no book among the six books that did not rely on them and narrate from many of them. Examples include: 
The isnaad of al-A‘mash from Dhakwaan Abu Saalih al-Sammaan, from Abu Hurayrah 
The isnaad of az-Zuhri from Abu Salamah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan from Abu Hurayrah. 
The isnaad of Hammaad ibn Salamah, from Thaabit ibn Aslam, from Anas. 
The isnaad of ‘Ubaydullah ibn ‘Umar al-‘Umari, from Naafi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar. 
It is possible to find out about these chains of narration, through which hundreds of reports were narrated, from the book Tuhfat al-Ashraaf by Imam al-Mazzi. 
The student may also seek help in memorising the narrators of these isnaads from the book Tabaqaat al-Mukthireena min Riwaayat al-Hadeeth by Shaykh ‘Aadil az-Zarqi, with a introduction by ‘Abdullah as-Sa‘d (published by Dar Tuwayq). 
If the seeker of hadeeth knowledge pays attention to these isnaads and memorises them, then start to connect these isnaads to the texts that he has previously memorised from the books of Sunnah, he will thus have instilled in his mind hundreds of hadeeths with their isnaads. In this way he will have started a new stage of acquiring deep knowledge of this noble science. 
2.
The second category is isnaads that are less well-known, through which dozens of reports were narrated, but they include some well-known issues such as interruptions in the chain of narration, ambiguity, omission of the name of the Sahaabi (mursal report) and so on. The student may study some of these isnaads in the book Tuhfat al-Tahseel by al-‘Alaa’i. 
If the seeker of knowledge pays attention to these isnaads too, and learns the problems associated with these types of isnaads, then he will achieved a great deal in this branch of knowledge. 
3.
The third category is the isnaads of mawdoo‘ (fabricated) and da‘eef (weak) isnaads, through which many hadeeths were also narrated, and which the seeker of knowledge must pay attention to, because it is not appropriate for the specialist to be unaware of reports that are well known among the scholars of hadeeth to be weak, faulty or fabricated. To achieve this, it is essential to persist in reading the books Meezan al-I‘tidaal by Imam adh-Dhahabi, al-Kaamil fi Du‘afa’ ar-Rijaal by Ibn ‘Adiyy, and al-Mawdoo‘aat by Ibn al-Jawzi. 
Thirdly: 
When the seeker of knowledge of the Prophet’s Sunnah has memorised a great deal of Sunnah texts, after that he may start to examine these texts more closely, finding out about ambiguous or difficult texts (ghareeb al-hadeeth) and the different ways in which they are interpreted. Al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Knowledge is understanding and cognizance, not memorizing and narrating a great deal.
End quote from al-Jaami‘ li Akhlaaq ar-Raawi, p. 174 
But the seeker of knowledge must be aware of the necessity of limiting himself – at the beginning of his pursuit of knowledge – to the abridged commentaries that will explain the difficult texts, and not engage in lengthy study of fiqhi and other issues, which may be too difficult and too time-consuming for the student. He would do well to read an abridged commentary such as al-Mufhim lima Ashkila min Talkhees Saheeh Muslim by Imam al-Qurtubi, al-Minhaaj Sharh Saheeh Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj by Imam an-Nawawi. He can sum up the meaning of the hadeeth and explanations of its vocabulary from these books in notes written in his own copy from which he is memorising the hadeeth, so that when he reviews what he has memorised of the Prophet’s Sunnah, he will also be able to read this summarised explanation of the hadeeth, thus attaining two benefits at the same time. 
With regard to studying fiqhi issues that are derived from the hadeeths, that is another matter altogether which he should not seek to learn from the commentaries on hadeeth; rather he should learn that from the books of fiqh which organise fiqhi issues into basic essentials and minor issues, according to one of the four madhhabs. 
Fourthly: 
With regard to sciences of hadeeth terminology (mustalah al-hadeeth), we advise the seeker of knowledge to obtain a copy of the book Tahreer ‘Uloom al-Hadeeth by Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Juday‘ and read it, study it and memorise its contents, because it is a pioneering book in its field which is distinguished by its highlighting the principles of the hadeeth sciences through examination of the different ways of hadeeth critics and through examination of all the principles that are mentioned in the books of biography. This is in addition to other books of mustalah al-hadeeth. 
If the book is too difficult for the student or he is a beginner, he should limit himself to Nuzhat an-Nazr Sharh Tuhfat al-Fikr by al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar, or write a summary of the book of Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Juday‘ and study his summary, so that when he understands it properly, he may move on to study of other books to increase his knowledge, the most important of which are an-Nukat ‘ala Ibn as-Salaah by al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar and Fath al-Mugheeth by al-Haafiz as-Sakhaawi. 
Fifthly: 
It is essential to give sufficient time to reading two other types of books too: 
1.
Books on ‘ilal wa takhreej, which represent the practical application of hadeeth sciences, from which the student may examine many examples of the rulings on and evaluation of hadeeths and isnaads; this will open up to him more areas of research and study. 
2.
Contemporary studies by specialists in the area of hadeeth, such as the books of al-‘Allaamah ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Mu‘allimi (may Allah have mercy on him) and specialist academic essays. We are living in a time – praise be to Allah – when there is a revival of interest in hadeeth sciences the like of which you can hardly find in later periods of the history of Islamic knowledge. Many of these studies include academic debates and important research on essential topics, which the seeker of hadeeth knowledge should not ignore or fail to pay attention to. By reading these contemporary studies he will find that he will increase in knowledge and understanding, and new ideas will come to his mind that require further research and examination, and perhaps he will play a part in achieving that.
 Over and above all that, he has to remind himself to fear Allah, may He be exalted, for this is the purpose of all knowledge, and the one who is distracted by the pursuit of knowledge from acting has gone astray and is doomed. Rather the effect of acquiring knowledge has to be seen in the humility of the student and his good manners and attitude towards people. 
It was narrated that al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
A man would seek knowledge, and soon that would be seen in his humility, his conduct, and the way he spoke and acted. End quote. 
Az-Zuhd by ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak, no. 79 
Ibn al-Salaah (may Allah have mercy on him) says: 
If a person wants to start seeking knowledge of hadeeth or to learn any of the hadeeth sciences, let him first ensure that his intention is correct and sincere and purify his heart of any worldly aims, and let him beware of the trial of love of leadership. End quote. 
‘Uloom al-Hadeeth, p. 213 
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
What is known as the “Introduction to Sahih Muslim” refers to the pages that Imam Muslim wrote at the beginning of his book “As-Sahih” before he started narrating the Hadiths of the book, which (i.e., the introductory pages) amount to about 30 pages in the printed versions.
He did not give it a specific name, but began the content of the introduction without a title, where he said (may Allah have mercy on him):
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, And the [best] outcome is for the righteous, and may Allah send blessings upon Muhammad, the seal of the prophets, and upon all the prophets and messengers.
To proceed: You, may Allah bestow mercy on you by granting you success from your Creator, mentioned that you intended to examine the collection of reports transmitted from the Messenger of Allah(peace and blessings be upon him) concerning the Sunnahs of the religion and its rulings, and what there is of reward and punishment, encouragement and deterrence, and other types of matters with the chains of narration by which they were transmitted, and which the scholars have exchanged among themselves…” End quote from “Introduction to Sahih Muslim” (p. 2).
However, scholars have conventionally referred to these pages as “The Introduction,” and some call it “Khutbat Al-Kitab.”
Secondly:
The subject of this introduction addresses the following points:
First: Clarifying the reason for the book’s composition.
Second: Explaining the subject of the book.
Third: Describing his methodology in the book.
Fourth: Discussing some issues of Hadith sciences that the reader of the book should be aware of.
Thirdly:
Is the introduction by Imam Muslim considered part of his book “As-Sahih”?
In terms of its narration and writing, it is not separate from “As-Sahih” because it has been narrated, copied, and printed as part of his book, and it has not been transmitted separately from it, so it is like any introduction or pologue of a book.
But in terms of its subject matter and content, it is not part of his book “As-Sahih”; rather, it is merely its introduction.
This is understood from the action of Imam Muslim, where he said after concluding the introduction:
“With the help of Allah, we begin, and we seek sufficiency in Him, and our success is only through Allah, Glorious is His Majesty.” End quote from “Sahih Muslim” (1/28).
Then he began to mention the Hadiths of his book.
Scholars have conventionally distinguished between “The Introduction” and “As-Sahih.” When they attribute a Hadith mentioned by Imam Muslim in “The Introduction,” they do not usually say it was narrated by Muslim in his “Sahih,” but rather they say it was narrated in “The Introduction to As-Sahih,” as is evident from the practice of Al-Mizzi in his book “Tuhfat Al-Ashraf,” and other scholars.
This distinction is clearly evident from what Al-Mizzi said in the introduction to his book “Tuhfat Al-Ashraf bi M`arifat Al-Atraf”:
“… To proceed: I have resolved, Allah willing, to compile in this book the common portions of the six books which are the mainstay of the Muslims and upon which most rulings revolve, namely:
Sahih Muhammad ibn Ismail Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj An-Naysaburi, Sunan Abu Dawud As-Sijistani, Jami` Abu `Isa At-Tirmidhi, Sunan Abu `Abd Ar-Rahman An-Nasa’i, and Sunan Abu `Abdullah Ibn Majah Al-Qazwini, and what is similar to them, such as: The Introduction to the book of Muslim…” End quote from “Tuhfat Al-Ashraf” (1/3 – 4).
Likewise, they differentiate between the narrators mentioned in the introduction and those whose Hadiths Imam Muslim narrated in the main body of his book “As-Sahih.”
The narrator whose Hadiths Imam Muslim only narrates in the introduction is described as being among the men of Muslim in “The Introduction,” as Al-Mizzi did in his book “Tahdhib Al-Kamal,” where he said in the introduction to his book, defining the symbols of his book:
“The symbol for what Muslim narrated in As-Sahih is: (M), and the symbol for what he narrated in the introduction to his book is: (MQ)” End quote from “Tahdhib Al-Kamal” (1/149).
Those who came after him did something similar in the biographies of the narrators.
Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“… As for your saying: Muslim narrated from Sufyan ibn Husayn in his “Sahih,” it is not as you mentioned, but rather he narrated from him in the introduction to his book. Muslim did not stipulate in it what he stipulated in the book regarding authenticity, so it has its own status, and the rest of his book has another status, and the people of Hadith have no doubt about this.” End quote from “Al-Furusiyya Al-Muhammadiyya” (1/183).
And Allah knows best.

Praise be to Allah.This hadeeth was narrated by al-Tabarani in his three Mu’jams, by al-Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Eeman, by Abu Na’eem in al-Hilyah; by Ibn ‘Adiyy in al-Kamil, and by al-‘Aqeeli in al-Du’afa. The hadeeth says: “Seek help in having your needs met by being discreet, for everyone who is blessed with something is envied.” This was narrated from the hadeeth of Mu’adh ibn Jabal, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ibn ‘Abbas, Abu Hurayrah and Abu Bardah (may Allah be pleased with them). 
Ibn Abi Hatim said that this hadeeth was munkar (rejected). Ibn al-Jawzi ruled that it is mawdoo’ (fabricated). 
It was classed as da’eef (weak) by al-‘Iraqi, al-Suyooti in al-Jami’ al-Sagheer, and al-‘Ajlooni in Kashf al-Khifa’. 
Al-Haythami said in Majma’ al-Zawaid (8/195): It was narrated that Mu’adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Seek help in having your needs met by being discreet, for everyone who is blessed with something is envied.” This was narrated by al-Tabarani in his three (Mu’jams), but its isnad (chain of narrators) includes Sa’eed ibn Salam al-‘Attar. Al-‘Ajali said there is nothing wrong with him, but Ahmad and others described him as a liar. The rest of its men are thiqat (trustworthy) except that Khalid ibn Mi’dan did not hear it from Mu’adh. 
‘Ilal Ibn Abi Hatim, 2/255; Fayd al-Qadeer by al-Manawi, 1/630; Kashf al-Khifa by al-‘Ajlooni, 1/135 
This hadeeth was classed as saheeh (authentic) by al-Albani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3/436, hadeeth no. 1453; and in Saheeh al-Jami’, no. 943. 
He narrated what the scholars said about the faults of this hadeeth, but he classed it as saheeh via the marfoo’ narration of Sahl ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Jarjani from Muhammad ibn Mutarrif from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir from ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). 
He said: The hadeeth with this isnad is jayyid (good) in my view. Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3/439 
And Allah knows best.