This excerpt is taken from the book by Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Hadith 39: Muslims Seeing a Beautiful Woman During Prayer
Imam Tirmidhi, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, that a beautiful woman used to come and pray behind the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Some people would move to the front row so that they would not see her, and some people would join the back row and peek under their armpits while in the bowing position. Upon this, Allah Almighty revealed this verse:
Reference: Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Tafsir al-Qur'an, Chapter: Surat Al-Hijr, Hadith: 3122
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَقْدِمِينَ مِنكُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْنَا الْمُسْتَأْخِرِينَ
"And those who were before you, We know them, and those who come after you, We know them as well."
Reference: (15-Al-Hijr:24)
Parvez Sahib has made a very harsh comment on this narration, writing:
➊ Finally, we conclude this series by narrating a hadith from Jami' at-Tirmidhi. Think, can your eyes rise after seeing this narration?
➋ Such narrations are loudly proclaiming that they cannot be authentic; they were fabricated by the enemies of Islam and falsely attributed to the noble Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and the noble Prophet, peace be upon him.
➌ But our religiously rigid class insists that not only must they be accepted as authentic, but it must also be believed that they were revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, by the trustworthy Angel Gabriel.
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith, p. 192
Answer:
➊ The investigations of the scholars on this matter are as follows: Some scholars have said that this is not a hadith but rather a statement of Abu al-Jawzaa, a Tabi‘i, or that this hadith is mursal. Imam Tirmidhi has preferred this view, and a mursal hadith is weak and cannot be used as evidence. Therefore, the adherents of the religion have not elevated this hadith to the extent that Mr. Parvez raises three objections against it.
Thus, to object to such narrations which are not considered sahih or hasan marfoo‘ by the muhaddithin, and to use this as an excuse to claim that all hadiths are not reliable, is a clear deception of Satan. And if the hadith is authentic, as some have said it is, then the answer is that those who prayed behind the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in congregation were not only the Companions رضي الله عنهم but also the hypocrites, and it is not unlikely that the hypocrites behaved in such a manner.
