❖ Claim Regarding Duʿā’ at the Death of Fāṭimah bint Asad (رضي الله عنها)
(Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah – Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām, vol. 2, p. 542)
Question:
Is it authentic that the Prophet ﷺ, upon the death of Fāṭimah bint Asad (رضي الله عنها), made the duʿā’:
"بحق نبيك والأنبياء الذين من قبلي"
“By the right of Your Prophet and the Prophets before me.”
Answer:
Alḥamdulillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ʾAmma baʿd!
A narration from Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ describes this incident:
Text of the Report:
When Fāṭimah bint Asad (رضي الله عنها), the mother of ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه), passed away, the Prophet ﷺ entered, sat by her head and said:
“May Allah have mercy on you, my mother after my own mother — you would go hungry so that I could eat, go without clothes so I could be clothed, and feed me the best food, seeking only Allah’s pleasure and the Hereafter…”
The report continues, describing that the Prophet ﷺ instructed her to be washed, poured water with his own hands, placed his shirt on her, dug her grave himself, lay in it, and said:
“Allah, Who gives life and death and never dies, forgive my mother Fāṭimah bint Asad, grant her firmness at the questioning, and widen her entrance by the right of Your Prophet and the Prophets before me, for You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.”
(al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ by al-Ṭabarānī 1/152–153, ḥadīth 191 — al-Ṭabarānī said: “Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ is alone in narrating it.” Also narrated by Abū Nuʿaym in Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ 3/121, Ibn al-Jawzī in al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah 1/268–269, ḥadīth 433)
Analysis of the Chain of Narration
Reason 1 – Weakness of Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ
The majority of ḥadīth critics declared him weak:
- Ibn ʿAdī: “Some of his ḥadīth are objectionable.” (al-Kāmil 3/1006)
- Ibn Yūnus al-Miṣrī: “Narrates munkar reports.” (Tārīkh al-Ghurabāʾ, via Lisān al-Mīzān 2/466)
- al-Dāraqutnī: “Weak in ḥadīth.” (al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif 3/1377)
- Ibn Mākūlā: “Declared weak in ḥadīth.” (al-Ikmāl 5/15)
- al-Dhahabī: “Has munkar reports.” (Tārīkh al-Islām 17/160)
- Ibn al-Jawzī: Listed him among the weak narrators in al-Majrūḥīn (1/287) and classed this narration among “fabricated/very weak” reports in al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah.
- Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Baghdādī: Agreed with other scholars not to record the ḥadīth of Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ. (Lisān al-Mīzān 4/213–214)
Some scholars did mention him as trustworthy, such as Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim, but this minority opinion is rejected due to the consensus of major critics on his weakness.
Reason 2 – Tadlīs of Sufyān al-Thawrī
Even if Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ were accepted, the chain remains weak because:
- Sufyān al-Thawrī narrates this with ʿan (عن) from ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb.
- Sufyān was a known mudallis, and a mudallis’ ʿanʿanah is unacceptable unless he explicitly states hearing (ḥaddathanā).
Additional References:
- al-Albānī: Classified it as ḍaʿīf in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah (1/32–34, no. 23).
- Detailed critique in Mājallah al-Ḥadīth, Hazro, issue 67, pp. 11–32.
Conclusion of the Research
- The narration is weak and rejected.
- Reasons:
① Presence of weak narrator Rūḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ.
② Tadlīs of Sufyān al-Thawrī with no explicit hearing. - Therefore, the claim that the Prophet ﷺ prayed using “the right of the Prophets” in this context is not authentic.
ھذا ما عندي، والله أعلم بالصواب
