Forgiveness of a Monotheist: Research of the Narration, Authenticity of the Chain, and Comprehensive Study of Supporting Aḥādīth
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Vol. 1 – Principles, Takhrīj, and Authentication of Narrations – p. 612
❖ Research of the Narration: Forgiveness of a Monotheist and His Sins
Question:
The following ḥadīth requires authentication:
"من لقي الله لا يعدل به شيئا في الدنيا ، ثم كان عليه مثل جبال ذنوب غفر الله له"
(Whoever meets Allah without ascribing any partner to Him in this world, then even if his sins are as great as mountains, Allah will forgive him.)
(Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, ḥadīth 236 – via al-Bayhaqī in al-Baʿth wa al-Nushūr)
(Muḥammad Muḥsin Salafī)
❖ Initial Research of the Narration
The verifier of Hidāyat al-Ruwāt (Takhrīj al-Mishkāt) states:
"قلت: لم أقف علی إسناده، والغالب عليه الضعف" (2/458, ḥadīth 2301)
"I say: I have not found its chain, and such narrations are generally weak."
❖ Imām al-Bayhaqī’s Narration
"أخبرنا أبو علي بن شاذان، أنبا عبد الله بن جعفر، ثنا يعقوب بن سفيان، ثنا يوسف بن عدي، ثنا عبد العزيز بن محمد الدراوردي، عن عمارة بن غزية، عن عطاء بن أبي مروان، عن أبيه، وعن أبي ذر قال: سئل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أي الكلام أفضل؟….. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: من لقي الله لا يعدل به شيئا في الدنيا، ثم كان عليه مثل جبال ذنوب، غفر الله له"
(Kitāb al-Baʿth wa al-Nushūr, p. 43, ḥadīth 33)
❖ Authenticity of the Chain and Brief Biographies of Narrators
This chain is Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic). Below is a brief introduction of its narrators:
➊ Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Shādhān al-Baghdādī
– Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī narrates from Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Rizqawayh: "Thiqah" (trustworthy). (Tārīkh Baghdād, 7/279, no. 3772)
– Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī: "Al-Imām, al-Fāḍil, al-Ṣadūq, Musnid al-ʿIrāq." (Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 17/415)
➋ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar ibn Durustawayh
– Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī: "Wa kāna thiqah" (He was trustworthy). (Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 15/531)
– For responses to criticisms by Hibat Allāh and Barqānī: see Tārīkh Baghdād (9/42), al-Tankīl (pp. 285–291).
➌ Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān al-Fārisī
– Narrator in Sunan al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī.
– Ibn Ḥibbān: included him in al-Thiqāt. (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 20/429; al-Thiqāt, 9/287)
– Al-Dhahabī: "Thiqah, author, righteous, pious." (al-Kāshif, 3/254)
➍ Yūsuf ibn ʿAdī
– Narrator in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and al-Nasāʾī.
– Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī and Abū Zurʿah: "Thiqah." (al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl, 9/227)
➎ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad al-Darāwardī
– Narrator in the six canonical books.
– Majority of muḥaddithīn declared him thiqah and ṣadūq.
– Imām Mālik and others authenticated him. (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 11/527)
➏ ʿUmārah ibn Ghaziyyah
– Narrator in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and Sunan al-Arbaʿah.
– Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī, and others: "Thiqah." (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 14/20)
➐ ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Marwān
– Narrator in al-Nasāʾī.
– Declared trustworthy by Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Nasāʾī, and others. (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 13/65)
➑ Abū Marwān al-Aslamī
– Narrator in Sunan al-Nasāʾī.
– Difference regarding his being a Ṣaḥābī, however:
– Al-ʿAjlī: al-Muʿtadil
– Ibn Ḥibbān: Thiqah. (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 22/28)
Conclusion:
All narrators are trustworthy and reliable. Hence, this narration is Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) and Gharīb (singularly transmitted).
❖ Supporting Evidence from Other Aḥādīth
This narration is supported in meaning by other authentic aḥādīth:
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (ḥadīth 1237) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (ḥadīth 94):
"أَتَانِي آتٍ مِنْ رَبِّي، فَأَخْبَرَنِي – أَوْ قَالَ: بَشَّرَنِي – أَنَّهُ: مَنْ مَاتَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا دَخَلَ الجَنَّةَ"
(One came to me from my Lord and informed me – or said: gave me glad tidings – that whoever from my Ummah dies without associating anything with Allah shall enter Paradise.)
Certification: April 2003ھذا ما عندي واللہ أعلم بالصواب
(This is what I have, and Allah knows best what is correct.)
