✿ Compilation: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid حفظه الله
❖ The Narration
A narration reported in al-Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim and other sources states:
When Ādam (عليه السلام) committed a mistake (by mistakenly eating from the forbidden tree), he said:
“O Allah! I ask You by the right of Muḥammad that You forgive me.”
Allah said: “O Ādam! How did you know about Muḥammad when I have not yet created him?”
Ādam replied: “When You created me with Your hand and breathed into me from Your spirit, I raised my head and saw written on the pillars of the Throne:
لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّه
So I understood that the one whose name is joined with Yours must be most beloved to You.”
Allah said: “You have spoken the truth, O Ādam! Verily, he is the most beloved of all creation to Me. So ask Me through his intercession, and I have forgiven you.
If it were not for Muḥammad, I would not have created you.”
[al-Mustadrak al-Ḥākim 2/615, Hadith no. 4228 | Mukhtaṣar al-Mustadrak 2/1069 | al-Tawassul p. 115 | al-Durr al-Manthūr 1/58 | Kanz al-ʿUmmāl 11/455 | Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 25]❖ Authentication of the Ḥadīth
Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله declared this narration to be fabricated (موضوع).
In the Mukhtaṣar of al-Mustadrak, Imām al-Dhahabī commented:✦ “Rather, this is a fabricated ḥadīth (بل موضوع).”
❖ Issues in the Chain of Narration
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam —
✦ He is weak (ḍaʿīf) and widely criticized by hadith scholars.
✦ All major ḥadīth experts are unanimous in rejecting his narrations in such matters. - ʿAbdullāh ibn Muslim al-Fihrī —
✦ Unknown (majhūl); scholars do not know who he is.
These weaknesses invalidate the entire narration. The story has no basis in any sound or authentic source.
❖ Conclusion
✔ The narration in which Ādam (عليه السلام) allegedly seeks forgiveness through the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ is fabricated and not acceptable.
✔ It contains unreliable and unknown narrators, and has been explicitly rejected by Imām al-Dhahabī and Shaykh al-Albānī.
✔ Therefore, this narration cannot be used as evidence for seeking intercession (tawassul) through the Prophet ﷺ, whether before or after his birth.
وَالله أعلم
