This excerpt is taken from the book of Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Hadith 36: Allah creating other people if you do not commit sins
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“By the One in Whose hand is my soul! If you become such that you do not commit any sin, Allah will remove you from the earth and will create another group in your place whose way will be to commit sins and then seek forgiveness and pardon from Allah.”
Reference: Sahih Muslim, At-Tawbah, Chapter on the Falling Away of Sins, Hadith: 2749, and the location of the hadith, p. 331
The followers of the rise of Islam have drawn the conclusion from this hadith that a person should commit more sins and then seek forgiveness so that Allah will be pleased.
Answer:
The hadith is authentic, but its meaning and implication are that there are many wisdoms in the creation of man by Allah Almighty. One of these wisdoms is that man frequently repents and seeks forgiveness, and this happens when man commits sins. The actual purpose is that repentance and seeking forgiveness occur frequently, while committing sins is an indirect purpose. There are many such examples, for instance: Allah Almighty created snakes and scorpions, etc., which are naturally enemies of man and bite him, but this is not the ultimate purpose; rather, there are other purposes and wisdoms inherently intended in this.
The purpose of man's creation is frequent seeking of forgiveness because, besides man, there are many other creatures that do not sin, such as angels, trees, stones, and animals. They glorify and praise Allah Almighty but do not seek forgiveness. However, the seeking of forgiveness by angels is mentioned in the Holy Quran, but it is for the believers. It is stated:
الَّذِينَ يَحْمِلُونَ الْعَرْشَ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهُ يُسَبِّحُونَ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّهِمْ وَيُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
"The angels who carry the Throne and those around it exalt Allah with praise and believe in Him and ask forgiveness for the believers."
Reference: (40-Al-Mu’min:7)
Therefore, only man is the creature whose creation's inherent purpose is to seek forgiveness.
◈ Note: Up to this point, the hadiths mentioned are those narrated by the early Muslims with reference to Imam Bukhari, and objections have been raised against them. However, hadith number 36 is not from Sahih Bukhari; it is from Sahih Muslim. They mistakenly attributed it to Imam Bukhari. Besides these, there are about four other hadiths on which they have raised objections, but we have not mentioned them because we did not find any aspect of objection in them. However, apart from these, there are some authentic hadiths on which the deniers of hadith raise objections. Some of these are considered noteworthy and are being discussed here.
