Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:
➊ The scene of the sun setting in the grave is also a trial, through which the true believer and the so-called Muslim are distinguished.

➋ It is extremely necessary to perform the prayer (salah) regularly during life; otherwise, it is difficult to succeed in the trial of the grave.

➌ The reason for rubbing the eyes is that the person feels as if he had fallen asleep heedlessly, which caused him to be late for the ‘Asr prayer; therefore, he wishes to perform the prayer immediately so that there is no further delay.

Hadith Authentication:
The chain of this narration is weak.
◄ In the chain of Ibn Majah and others, Sulaiman bin Mehran al-A‘mash is a well-known trustworthy but mudallis (one who practices tadlis).
Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani has mentioned him among the second tier of mudallisin. [طبقات المدلسين مع الفتح المبين 2/55 ص43٬42]
◄ However, on the other hand, Hafiz Ibn Hajar himself has mentioned al-A‘mash in the third tier and declared him to be one who practices tadlis excessively. See: [النكت عليٰ ابن الصلاح 640/2]
◄ Regarding a narration, Hafiz Ibn Hajar says:
“And in my view, the narration authenticated by Ibn al-Qattan (al-Fasi) is defective (weak), because the authenticity of a hadith does not necessarily follow from the trustworthiness of its narrators, since al-A‘mash is a mudallis and he has not mentioned his hearing (sama‘) from ‘Ata’ in this narration.” [التلخيص الحبير 19/3 ص 1181، الفتح المبين ص 43]
◄ Hafiz Ibn Hibban says:
«وأما المدلسون الذين هم ثقات و عدول لا نحتج بأخبارهم إلا ما بيونا السماع فيما رووا مثل الثوري والأعمش وأبي إسحاق وأضرابهم من الأئمة المتقين (المتقنين) وأهل الورع فى الدين .»
“As for those mudallisin who are trustworthy and upright, we (the scholars of hadith) do not use their narrations as proof unless they explicitly mention their hearing in their narrations, such as (Sufyan) al-Thawri, (Sulaiman) al-A‘mash, and Abu Ishaq (al-Sabi‘i), and other such pious (meticulous, trustworthy) and righteous imams...” [صحيح ابن حبان، الاحسان ج1ص 161]
◄ From this statement of Ibn Hibban, it is clear that Sufyan al-Thawri, al-A‘mash, and Abu Ishaq al-Sabi‘i are all from the third tier of mudallisin, and their «عن» narration is not a proof unless there is explicit mention of hearing.
◄ Before Ibn Hibban, Imam Shu‘bah bin al-Hajjaj al-Basri rahimahullah (d. 160 AH) said:
«كفيتكم تدليس ثلاثة : الأعمش وأبي إسحاق وقتادة»
“I am sufficient for the tadlis of three men: al-A‘mash, Abu Ishaq, and Qatadah.” [جزء مسألة التسميه لمحمد بن طاهر المقدسي ص47 وسنده صحيح]
From this, two points are understood:
➊ First, that the narration of Shu‘bah from al-A‘mash, Abu Ishaq, and Qatadah is based on hearing (sama‘).
➋ Second, that the mu‘an‘an narration of these three is not a proof.
Imam Nawawi says:
«والاعمش مدلس لا يحتج بعنعنته إلا إذا صح سماعه . . .»
“And al-A‘mash is a mudallis; his «عن» narration is not a proof unless he explicitly mentions hearing.” [شرح صحيح مسلم، درسي نسخه ج1 ص72 تحت ح 109]
↰ Thus, it is clear that according to Imam Nawawi as well, al-A‘mash is from the third tier.
↰ For further details, see: [الفتح المبين ص43]
Some contemporary researchers have adopted a strange approach in their investigations. They declare the mu‘an‘an narrations of Abu al-Zubayr, Hasan al-Basri, and some other mudallisin to be weak, even if some of these narrations are from the Sahihayn! Yet, they openly declare the narrations of Sufyan al-Thawri, Sulaiman al-A‘mash, Qatadah, and other mudallisin to be authentic. What is the real basis of this double standard? We do not know; however, this approach of these researchers is invalid.
↰ It should be noted that the division of the tiers of mudallisin is not fully accepted by any of the earlier or later scholars, whether they are from the Ahl al-Hadith or others.
◄ After this detail regarding tadlis, it is submitted that a hasan li-dhatihi supporting narration (shahid) for the above narration is present in Sahih Ibn Hibban, in which it is mentioned that
«إن الميت أذا وضع فى قبره . . . فيجلس قد مثلت له الشمس وقد آذنت للغروب . . . فيقول : دعوني حتي أصلي .» [الاحسان 3103 دوسرا نسخه : 3113، الموارد : 781 وسنده حسن]
◄ With this supporting narration, the aforementioned narration is hasan, but «يمسح عينيه» still, there is no authentic supporting narration for the wording “then he rubs his eyes as he sits up,” so these words are not established. «والله اعلم»