#603: The Authenticity of the Hadīth on a Woman that Complained to the Rasūl – Salallahu Alayhi Wasallam – of Too Many Guests
QUESTION
“Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullah
“Ya Sheikh… Please what is the authenticity of the below Hadīth”
A woman came to The Prophet ﷺ and complained to him about her husband that he invites too many guests and she has become w eary from preparing food for them and hosting them. The Prophet ﷺ did not answer and the woman left.
Sometime later The Prophet ﷺ called the woman’s husband and said, “I am your guest today.”
The man was so happy he went home and told his wife “The Prophet of Allāh ﷺ is our guest today.”
His wife was ecstatic and spent time and effort and used every bit of food to prepare for the arrival of the Most Honored Guest, The Prophet ﷺ.
After the amazing joy of hosting The Prophet ﷺ generously, The Prophet ﷺ told the man, “Tell your wife to watch the door from which I leave your home.”
So the wife watched the door from which The Prophet ﷺ left her home and saw all kinds of creatures, scorpions and other harmful creatures leaving the house behind The Prophet ﷺ, upon which she fainted due to the immense manifestation and greatness of what she had witnessed.
When she came to The Prophet ﷺ, he said to her, “This is what happens when the guest leaves your home, with him all kinds of harm, trials and tribulations and harmful creatures depart from your home, and that is the wisdom behind being generous to one’s guest and becoming weary doing so.”
The house in which the guests are frequent and many is a house which Allāh ﷻ loves. There is nothing better than the ‘open house’ for the young and the old. In such a house descends Allāh’s ﷻ Mercy and Blessings from heaven.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “If Allāh wants good for a people, He sends them a gift.” They asked “What kind of gift, oh Prophet of Allāh?” He said, “The guest comes with his own provision, and leaves with the sins of the people of the house.”
So my beloved, know that the guest is the way to Paradise. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever believes in Allāh and the Last Day must be generous with his guest.”
ANSWER
Though the majority of the Ulamā held that it was a very great and major sin, It should be known that some of the Ulamā have considered intentional fabrication of Hadīth as Kufr. This is the position held by Imām Abū Yusuf Al-Juwainī – rahimahullāh – the father of Imām Al-Haramayn. He was supported in this position by Ibn Al-Wazīr. Al-Hāfidh Ibn Kathīr mentioned that the Imām Abu Al-Fadl Al-Hamdhānī the Shaykh of Ibn ‘Aqīl – Rahimahumullāh – from the Hanbalī Madh’hab concurred with Al-Juwainī in his position mentioned.
Imām As-Suyūtī – rahimahullāh – mentioned in the Alfiyyah:
وجزم الشيخ أبو محمد؛ بكفره بوضعه إن يقصد
“And the Shaykh Abū Muhammad insisted, that by intentional fabrication of it, he apostates”
We therefore call on the fabricators of this fabrication to desist from this and to fear Allāh. Those who propagate it must also fear Allāh and beware of a day where mankind shall be called to account.
That said, the later part of the Story is a part of a very weak Hadīth as is confirmed by the Ulamā.
The later part to which we refer is where he says:
The Prophet – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:
“If Allāh wants good for a people, He sends them a gift”
They asked: “What kind of gift o Prophet of Allah?”
He said: “The guest comes with his own provision and leaves with the sins of the people of the house”
It is recorded by Abū Nu’aym in Ma’arifatu As-Sahābah and Ad-Daylamī in Musnadu Al-Firdaws all with weak chains and poor narrators.
And in the Sound Ahādith are enough statements from the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – detailing the bounties of receiving the guests and been hospitable to them that suffices us. To them should you refer that you may be praiseworthy. And abandon the Ahādith of the story tellers, the rumour mongers and the addicted liars who fabricate stories and Ahādith and place them on the tongue of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam.
We ask Allāh for guidance and correction, āmīn.
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran
23rd Ramadān, 1439A.H.
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