Explanation of the Chapter Heading: ‘Respecting and Honouring the Hadeeth of the Prophet (ﷺ) and being stern with those who go against it.’
Ibn Mājah entitled this chapter, ‘Respecting and Honouring the Hadeeth of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) and being stern with those who go against it.’ Here, the meaning of ‘respecting and honouring’ is to give the Ahādeeth the importance and concern they deserve and to cling to them, and not to be lenient or lax regarding taking from the Hadeeth.
Being ‘stern with those who go against the Hadeeth,’ means those who speak against the Hadeeths and do not act in accordance with them once they have been conveyed to them.
Ibn Mājah reports a collection of Hadeeth under this chapter heading, within which there is a stern warning against falling short concerning the Hadeeth of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) and not clinging to that which has been established from the Messenger of Allah (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam).
Hadeeth Number 12
The author, Ibn Mājah (rahimahullah) said:
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا زَيْدُ بْنُ الْحُبَابِ، عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ صَالِحٍ، حَدَّثَنِي الْحَسَنُ بْنُ جَابِرٍ، عَنِ الْمِقْدَامِ بْنِ مَعْدِيكَرِبَ الْكِنْدِيِّ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ
“ يُوشِكُ الرَّجُلُ مُتَّكِئًا عَلَى أَرِيكَتِهِ يُحَدَّثُ بِحَدِيثٍ مِنْ حَدِيثِي فَيَقُولُ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فَمَا وَجَدْنَا فِيهِ مِنْ حَلاَلٍ اسْتَحْلَلْنَاهُ وَمَا وَجَدْنَا فِيهِ مِنْ حَرَامٍ حَرَّمْنَاهُ . أَلاَ وَإِنَّ مَا حَرَّمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ مِثْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ ” .
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us, saying that Zaid ibn ul-Hubāb narrated to us, from Mu’āwiyyah bin Sālih, who said that al-Hassan bin Jābir narrated to me from al-Miqdām bin Ma’dee-Karib al-Kindi that Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said:
“There will soon come a time when a man will be reclining on his couch, and when a Hadeeth of mine is narrated to him he will say: ‘Between us and you is only the Book of Allah, and whatever we find within it that is halāl, then we will take it as being halāl, and whatever we find within it which is harām, we will take it to be harām.’ Verily! Whatever the Messenger of Allah (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) has forbidden is like what Allah has forbidden.”
(Reported by ibn Mājah, Abu Dāwud, at-Tirmidhi and Imām Ahmad. Sheikh al-Albāni declared it to be Saheeh in Saheeh al-Jāmi’, 2657)
Explanation
This is the first Hadeeth narrated by the companion al-Miqdām bin Ma’di Karib al-Kindi (radiAllahu ‘anhu) that Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said: “يوشك الرجل”- meaning that there will soon come a time where there will be man who will be: “متكئا على أريكته”- i.e. reclining on his couch, meaning that he will be in a state of luxury and affluence, remaining in his house and not leaving his home in search of knowledge; he will not concern himself with studying knowledge.
His (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) statement, ‘When a Hadeeth of mine is narrated to him,’ meaning when a Hadeeth is read to him from the ahādeeth of Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) he will not take from it, rather he will say, ‘Between us and you is the Book of Allah and whatever we find in that that is halāl, we will consider that to be halāl, and whatever we find in it of harām, we will consider that to be harām,’ – meaning that they will cling to that which is in the Book of Allah, and they will leave other than that and not pay attention to it. So, they will only believe in the Qur’ān, but they will not believe in the Sunnah.
Whoever Disbelieves in the Sunnah has Disbelieved in the Qur’ān
It is known that whoever disbelieves in the Sunnah has disbelieved in the Qur’ān because Allah, the Most High, says in the Qur’ān:
وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا ۚ
“Whatever the Messenger gives you, then take it, and whatever he forbids you from, then stay away from it.” (Surah al-Hashr 59:7).
And He, the Most High, said:
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ ۗ وَمَن يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُّبِينًا
“It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed into a plain error.” (Surah al-Ahzāb 33:36).
He, the Most High also says:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِ
“Say, ‘If you truly love Allah, then follow me.” (Surah Aal- ‘Imrān 3:31).
Meaning follow the Messenger salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam),
يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surah Aal-’Imrān 3:31).
Therefore, the denier of the Sunnah is also a denier of the Qur’ān, because the Qur’ān orders us to take the Sunnah: what the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) came with.
Meaning of the Hadeeth
The Hadeeth means that there will soon come a time when there will be found a person who speaks with this speech. He will be one of the affluent people who will be living in the lap of luxury. These people will not go out and search for the Truth or seek guidance, nor will they seek knowledge from its people, and they will deviate from the straight path, and they will be carried by their desires and will traverse upon their own incorrect and misguided understandings. So, a Hadeeth from the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) will be narrated to one of them, but he will not accept it; rather, he will say, ‘Between us and you is only the Book of Allah, whatever we find in it of halāl, we will consider it to be halāl, and whatever we find in it to be harām, then we will consider it to be harām.’
Then, at the end of the Hadeeth, the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, ‘Indeed, whatever the Messenger of Allah (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) has made harām, is like what Allah has made harām.’ This means that whatever has come in the Sunnah is the same as what has come in the Qur’ān, because that which has come in the Sunnah is from Allah, and it is not from the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), rather the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is the one who conveyed from Allah, the Most High. The Shari’ah did not come from the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) himself; rather, it came from Allah.
Al-Khattābi (d.388H, rahimahullah) said in Ma’ālim as-Sunan, volume 4, page 299:
“In this Hadeeth is a proof that there is no need to refer the Hadeeth of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) to the Qur’ān [for confirmation], and whatever is established as being from the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is a proof in itself.
As for what some narrate that the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) supposedly said, ‘If there comes to you a Hadeeth then refer it to the Book of Allah, and if it agrees with it, take it, and if it opposes it, then leave it,’ then this narration is false, having no basis to it. Zakariyyah bin Yahya as-Sāji narrates from Yahya bin Ma’een (rahimahullah) regarding this narration that he said, ‘This Hadeeth was fabricated by the heretics.’“
Therefore, the Shari’ah that was revealed to the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is of two categories:
1. That which is recited as an act of worship, and it is acted upon, and that is the Qur’ān.
2. That with which a person worships Allah by acting upon it, just as one acts upon the Qur’ān, however, it is not recited as an act of worship as the Qur’ān is, and this is the Sunnah.
So, the Sunnah agrees and is in harmony with the Qur’ān in that both of them are to be acted upon.
Ibn Abil ‘Izz al-Hanafi (d.792H, rahimahullah) said in his explanation of the ‘Aqeedah of Imām at-Tahāwi (pages 166-167):
“It is obligatory to submit completely to the Messenger of Allah (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) and to yield to his commands and to accept his narrations and to truly affirm them in the hearts, without referring them to false notions and ideas that are referred to as logic or ‘reason’. We should not be in any doubt concerning his narrations and we are not to put the opinions of men before him nor the refuse of their thoughts, rather the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is singled out with judgement and with submitting and yielding to him, just as the One who sent him is singled out with all worship, humility to him, turning to him in repentance, and trusting and relying on him. Both of these are considered to be oneness.
There is no salvation for a person from the punishment of Allah except by clinging to both (i.e., singling out Allah with all worship and singling out the Messenger to be followed). One does not judge by anyone other than Allah and the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), and one is not pleased by anyone else’s judgement.
We do not refrain from acting upon his commands nor from believing in what he reported, or to refer it to a sheikh or an Imām or a madhab-, thus accepting or rejecting the hadeeth based on this. That a person is cast into every sin (other than shirk) by his Lord is better than being cast into this trial. Rather, if a Saheeh Hadeeth reaches him, he should consider it as if he heard it himself from Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam). Would he then be allowed to delay accepting it and acting upon it until he obtained the opinion of so and so?
Rather, it is obligatory to hasten to act upon the Hadeeth without referring it to others. One should not find it difficult to act upon the words of the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) just because it opposes the opinion of so and so. Rather, it is this opposing opinion that should cause one difficulty.
The Hadeeth are not to be contradicted with analogy, for this is a waste of analogy, and his (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) speech is not to be distorted through the use of what they term as intellect, rationale, and logic. One who does this is far away from that which is correct. So, one is not to wait before accepting the words of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) until it agrees with the saying of so and so or so and so, whoever they may be.” [End of the saying of ibn Abil ‘Izz].
Therefore, no one is given precedence over the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), in speech and action, and one does not refrain from acting on the Sunnah because of his ‘sheikh’ or because of his madhab. This is why the saved sect is called ‘Ahlul Hadeeth’ because they follow the Hadeeth of the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), and they do not give anyone’s opinions precedence over the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) because everything he came with is from revelation.
We have already mentioned the Hadeeth of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), ‘Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah.’ This is because obedience to the Messenger of Allah (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is obedience to Allah because the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) did not bring anything from himself; rather, whatever he brought was from Allah the Most High, just as He said:
وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ
“He does not speak from his desires. It is only a revelation revealed.” (Surah an-Najm 53:3-4).
Allah has informed us that He is the One who sent down the Book and He sent the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) to explain that Book to the people, such that He, the Most High, said:
وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ…
“And We have sent down to you, the reminder, that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them…” (Surah an-Nahl 16:44).
Here, Allah, the Most High, explains that He sent the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) so that he may explain the revelation to the people. So, the explanation and clarification of all the acts of worship and the dealings between the people have come in the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam).
The Qur’ān has come with many different affairs in a generalised manner, and their explanation is found in the Sunnah. Allah, the Most High, has commanded the establishment of the prayer; however, how the prayer is to be performed is reported in the Sunnah: the number of rak’āt, what is to be recited in each rukoo’, sajdah, the sitting, etc., all of this is reported in the Sunnah, and is not mentioned in the Qur’ān. Furthermore, he (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said: “Pray as you have seen me praying.”
The one who says that he does not believe in the Sunnah, then how does he pray? How does he fulfil this great pillar of Islām?
Likewise, with respect to the Zakāh, the Qur’ān mentions the command of paying the zakāh, but how much is to be paid? What is the minimum amount that a person must possess before zakāh becomes obligatory upon him? All of this is found in the Sunnah, such as the Hadeeth of Anas bin Mālik regarding the book of Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq (radiyallahu ‘anhu) about the obligations of the Zakāh.
Imām Bukhāri (rahimahullah) and others have reported that Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq (radiyallahu ‘anhu) wrote the obligations of the zakāh that Allah and His Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) have commanded with. This writing included the amount of zakāh that is to be paid on camels, cows, sheep, etc, and the minimum number of these animals that should be reached (the nisāb) before the zakāh is to be paid. None of this can be ascertained except by way of the Sunnah; it is not mentioned in the Qur’ān.
Similarly, regarding Hajj, the command is found in the Qur’ān:
وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا ۚ
“And Hajj to the House is a duty that mankind owes to Allah.” (Surah Aal-’Imrān 3:97).
However, the actual details of exactly how to perform Hajj, with all the details, are only found in the Sunnah. The Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, ‘Take from me your rites of Hajj,’ (Reported by Imām Muslim from Jābir radiyallahu ‘anhu). Thus, clearly showing that the details of Hajj are to be found in the actions and statements of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam).
A man came to the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) and asked, ‘What is for me if I were to be killed in the cause of Allah?’ So, Allah’s Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, ‘For you is Jannah.’ When the man turned away, the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) added, ‘Except for a debt, for indeed Jibreel has just confided this to me (now).’ This is because the debt is a right of the people, so this was made as an exception to the general statement of ‘Jannah.’ Therefore, this extra information regarding the debt was revealed to the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) through Jibreel (‘alaihis-salām).
Imām az-Zuhri (rahimahullah) said, ‘From Allah is the message, and upon the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) is to convey, and upon us is to submit.’
So, the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) conveyed the message to us as he was commanded to do, and he did so in a complete and perfect manner. He (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) did not leave an affair that would bring a person closer to Allah except that he guided his ummah to it, and he did not leave an affair that would take a person away from Allah, except that he warned his ummah from it.
The Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) left the people upon a clear and white plain; its night is as clear as its day; he (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) left us upon the utmost clarity and illumination.
The Men in the Chain of Narration
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah: he is thiqah (trustworthy and reliable), and all of the 6 books narrate from him except for at-Tirmidhi.
Zaid bin al-Hubāb: he is suduq (truthful), Imām al-Bukhāri narrates from him in ‘Juz ul-Qirā’ah’, as does Imām Muslim and the Companions of the Sunan.
Muāwiyyah bin Sālih: he is suduq (truthful), but he has some mistakes, Bukhāri narrates from him in ‘Juz ul-Qirā’ah’ as does Muslim and the Companions of the Sunan.
Al-Hassan bin Jābir: he is maqbool (accepted), and Tirmidhi and Ibn Mājah narrate from him. However, he is not alone in narrating this Hadeeth. Rather, there is another chain of narration that leads back to the same sahābi from ‘Abdur Rahmān bin Abi ‘Awf, therefore, this Hadeeth is taken/accepted because if a narrator is maqbool, and he is followed up by another narrator, the Hadeeth is taken and is acceptable.
Al-Miqdām bin Ma’di Karib al-Kindi (radiyallahu ‘anhu): his Hadeeth are narrated by Bukhāri and the Companions of the Sunan.
والحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أشهد أن لا إله إلا أنت، أستغفرك وأتوب إليك
Abu Khadeejah Abdul-Wāhid.
Copyright 2025.
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