Question

Salam,

I wanted to know regarding the permissibility of reading the book fadhail e amaal by maulana zakariyaa

I’ve heard this book contains fabricated ahadith, and considering the context in which this book is read in, wouldn’t it be problematic?

This book is mainly read by musalis who then renarrate the ahadiths read in this book in bayans and such. Although the book may have alot of khayr, isn’t it an issue if it includes fabricated ahadith and brothers read these fabricate ahadiths and spread them?

Also considering, the hadith, that states more or less to the affect, that whoever associates a lie to the prophet saw, shall have a place in the hell fire.
Jazakallah

Answer

To read Fada’il Aʿmal is permissible. As you are aware, it is a treasure trove of hadiths pertaining to matters of virtue and encouragement and it has been a catalyst for positive change in the lives of many who have read it. Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi compiled this book from the collections of hadith scholars before him, such as the Jami’ al-Saghir of Imam Suyuti and the Targhib wa’l Tarhib of Hafiz Munziri. Thus, Shaykh Zakariyya was mostly gathering from the works of those who preceded him.

Now, it is true that the book Fada’il Aʿmal contains a number of weak narrations, but as Mawlana Abdullah Maroofi has proven in his article titled Fada’il Aʿmal Par ‘Iʿtiradat Ayk Usuli Ja’izah, many hadith giants including Imam Nawawi and Imam Ibn Hajar have accepted the usage of weak hadith for matters of virtue and encouragement.

As for the existence of more problematic narrations, there are a few such narrations in the main text and in the commentary. The existence of these narrations does not mean that the book should be discarded. The masterpiece Ihya ʿUlum al-Din by Imam Ghazali contains a number of narrations that are problematic. However, due to the great benefit attained from reading the book, scholars did not discard the book, but rather they worked on the book, sourcing its hadiths and clarifying any problematic narrations. For example, the sourcing of the narrations of the Ihya’ was undertaken by Hafiz Iraqi and Imam Ibn Subki amongst others. The point being made here then is that just like the existence of fabricated narrations in the Ihya’ does not make it prohibited to read and gain benefit from, similarly it is not prohibited to read Fada’il Aʿmal. Rather, readers should be aware of those narrations that are problematic so that they do not think them to be or share them as the words of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). To this end, it is upon the scholars to work on this great book to make it available to the public in such a manner. The Arabic translation of Fada’il Aʿmal has the footnotes of Mawlana Abdul Rashid al-Nadwi wherein he sources the narrations and mentions the grading of some of them. Such a work in English would also prove valuable.

For a response to some of the other objections raised against Fada’il Aʿmal, please refer to the aforementioned Urdu book by Mawlana Abdullah Maroofi. An English translation of the Urdu work edited by Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias is also available online.

Finally, the hadith that you mentioned is referring to someone who intentionally lies against the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is not referring to when a statement is mistakenly or forgetfully attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Of course this does not allow being careless about narrating from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). But if a person was to narrate a statement and mistakenly claim it to be the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), they will, insha’Allah, be pardoned.

صحيح البخاري (1229)

إن كذبا علي ليس ككذب على أحد من كذب علي متعمدا فليتبوأ مقعده من النار

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel