Asma' reported that a woman came to Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) and said: I have a co-wife. Is there any harm for me if I give her the false impression (of getting something from my husband which he has not in fact given me)? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: The one who creates such a (false impression) of receiving what one has not been given is like one who wears the garment of falsehood.
This hadith has been reported on the authority of Hisham with the same chain of transmitters.
Explanation & Benefits
Maulana Dawood Raz
Hadith Commentary:
And to display among people that these clothes are mine—such a boastful person ultimately always becomes humiliated and disgraced. It is as if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not permit even a false statement before a co-wife; this is the pinnacle of piety.
Source: Sahih Bukhari: Commentary by Maulana Dawood Raz, Page: 5219
Shaykh Abdul Sattar al-Hammad
Hadith Commentary:
(1)
The meaning of "mutashabbi‘" is:
To display satiety, even though one is not actually satiated.
It is likened to clothing because both satiety and clothing conceal a person—one conceals inwardly, the other outwardly.
(2)
Some scholars have interpreted the meaning of "two false garments" as follows: a liar puts on the cloak and lower garment of an honorable man in order to give false testimony, so that the liar appears to be respectable.
Similarly, some women apply a different colored powder under their shirt so that it appears as if they are wearing two shirts.
(3)
It is a blameworthy act on the part of a woman if she, in order to provoke jealousy in her co-wife, claims that her husband has given her certain things, even though he has not given her anything.
Such a woman is like that false person who, for the sake of showing off, wears the garments of ascetics, even though he is not an ascetic.
(Fath al-Bari: 9/394)
Source: Hidayat al-Qari: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Urdu, Page: 5219
Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi
Benefits and Issues:
It does not befit any believer to deceive a Muslim or to covet something that belongs to another.
Similarly, it is not permissible for co-wives to create such a situation among themselves that causes the other to become distressed.
Nor is it permissible for anyone to present themselves as an ascetic (zahid) merely for show, while the reality is otherwise.
Source: Sunan Abu Dawood – Commentary by Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi, Page: 4997
Shaykh Muhammad Ibrahim bin Basheer
Benefit:
In this hadith, one type of falsehood is mentioned: that a person outwardly displays something which, in reality, he does not possess. This is a lie and a major sin (kabirah). This is a general category of lying. May Allah, the Exalted, grant us the ability to avoid it. Ameen.
Source: Musnad al-Humaydi: Commentary by Muhammad Ibrahim bin Bashir, Page: 321