A Research-Based Review of a Weak Narration on the Virtues of the Last Three Verses of Surah Al-Hashr
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ, Page 491
Is the narration attributed to Sayyidunā Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA — stating that whoever recites the last three verses of Surah Al-Hashr (verses 22 to 24: هُوَ اللَّهُ… إِلَىٰ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ) every morning and evening will receive the supplication of seventy thousand angels and, if they pass away, will attain the status of martyrdom — authenticated by any sound Hadith?
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, Ammā Baʿd:
This narration, which is attributed to Sayyidunā Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA, appears in the following chains and classical sources:
Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī → Khālid ibn Ṭahmān Abū al-ʿAlāʾ → Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ → Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA
1. Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ
– According to the preferred opinion, this narrator is reliable (thiqah).
– Yaḥyá ibn Maʿīn has declared him trustworthy.
(Tārīkh al-Dūrī: 851)
2. Khālid ibn Ṭahmān
– Though he is truthful, he is considered weak due to ikhtilāṭ (mix-up in memory).
– It is not known whether he narrated this particular Hadith before or after his memory lapse, which renders the narration unreliable.
Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله has also critiqued this narration.
Refer to: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl, Vol. 2, Pg. 58, under Ḥadīth 342
Furthermore, as per Natāʾij al-Afkār, Vol. 2, Pg. 402, there is no authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) or good (ḥasan) supporting chain for this narration.
Since the chain is weak, and there is no supporting authentic or ḥasan narration to back it up, this narration cannot be acted upon as a basis for the virtue of reciting the last three verses of Surah al-Hashr.
Wa mā ʿalaynā illā al-balāgh
(Shahādat, November 2004)
Hādhā mā ʿindī wa-Allāhu Aʿlam bi-ṣ-Ṣawāb
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ, Page 491❖ Inquiry:
Is the narration attributed to Sayyidunā Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA — stating that whoever recites the last three verses of Surah Al-Hashr (verses 22 to 24: هُوَ اللَّهُ… إِلَىٰ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ) every morning and evening will receive the supplication of seventy thousand angels and, if they pass away, will attain the status of martyrdom — authenticated by any sound Hadith?
❖ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, Ammā Baʿd:
This narration, which is attributed to Sayyidunā Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA, appears in the following chains and classical sources:
Chain of Transmission:
Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī → Khālid ibn Ṭahmān Abū al-ʿAlāʾ → Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ → Maʿqil ibn Yasār RA
Referenced Sources:
- Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Kitāb Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān, Chapter 22, Ḥadīth 2922
- Musnad Aḥmad, Vol. 5, Pg. 26, Ḥadīth 2057
- Sunan al-Dārimī, Vol. 2, Pg. 458, Ḥadīth 3428
- ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah by Ibn al-Sunnī, Ḥadīth 80
- ʿAjālat al-Rāghib al-Mumtaniʿ, ed. Shaykh Salīm ibn ʿĪd Abī Usāmah al-Hilālī, Vol. 1, Pg. 131, Ḥadīth 81
- Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī, Vol. 20, Pg. 229, Ḥadīth 537
- Kitāb al-Duʿāʾ, Vol. 2, Pg. 934, Ḥadīth 308
- Shuʿab al-Īmān by al-Bayhaqī, Ḥadīth 2502
- Natāʾij al-Afkār by Ibn Ḥajar, Vol. 2, Pg. 405
- Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān by Ibn al-Ḍarīs, Pg. 104, Ḥadīth 230
- Al-Kashf wa al-Bayān by al-Thaʿlabī, Vol. 9, Pg. 289
- Tahdhīb al-Kamāl by al-Mizzī, Vol. 19, Pg. 31
- Maʿālim al-Tanzīl by al-Baghawī, Vol. 4, Pg. 327
- Al-Amālī by Bishrān, Pg. 203/109
- Al-Tadwīn fī Akhbār Qazwīn by al-Rāfiʿī, Vol. 2, Pg. 495 (referenced by Shaykh al-Hilālī)
Evaluation of Narrators:
1. Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ
– According to the preferred opinion, this narrator is reliable (thiqah).
– Yaḥyá ibn Maʿīn has declared him trustworthy.
(Tārīkh al-Dūrī: 851)
2. Khālid ibn Ṭahmān
– Though he is truthful, he is considered weak due to ikhtilāṭ (mix-up in memory).
– It is not known whether he narrated this particular Hadith before or after his memory lapse, which renders the narration unreliable.
Scholarly Critique:
Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله has also critiqued this narration.
Refer to: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl, Vol. 2, Pg. 58, under Ḥadīth 342
Furthermore, as per Natāʾij al-Afkār, Vol. 2, Pg. 402, there is no authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) or good (ḥasan) supporting chain for this narration.
Final Conclusion:
Since the chain is weak, and there is no supporting authentic or ḥasan narration to back it up, this narration cannot be acted upon as a basis for the virtue of reciting the last three verses of Surah al-Hashr.
Wa mā ʿalaynā illā al-balāgh
(Shahādat, November 2004)
Hādhā mā ʿindī wa-Allāhu Aʿlam bi-ṣ-Ṣawāb
