Virtues of Surah Ya-Sin – Shaykh Zubayr ‘Aliza’i

Translated

Abu Sinan

Checked & Revised

Abu Khuzaimah Ansaari

 

Taken from Fatawa ‘Ilmiyyah (1/493-497)

Question: The Tahqiq (research) regarding the following narration is desired: “The person that recites Surah Ya-Sin every morning will have all the needs of his day fulfilled.”

Answer: This narration is present in the Sunan of Ad-Darimi (2/457 #3421) with the following chain of narration: “‘Ata’ bin Abi Rabah (Tabi’i) said: It has reached me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said…” – and the author of Mishkat [Al-Masabih] (#2177) narrated it from Ad-Darimi. This narration is weak on account of it being Mursal¹, and the person that informed [‘Ata’ bin Abi Rabah] is unknown. The following Marfu’² narrations pertaining to the virtues of Surah Ya-Sin are also weak and rejected:

1. “Verily everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qur’an is Ya-Sin, and whomsoever recites Ya-Sin, Allah will write for him [the reward of] the recitation of the Qur’an ten times.” (Jami’ At-Tirmidhi #2887 from the Hadith of Qatadah from Anas [may Allah be pleased with him], Tablighi Nisab p.292, Fadha’il Al-Qur’an p.58)

Imam At-Tirmidhi said regarding one of the narrators [of this Hadith], “Harun Abu Muhammad is an unknown Shaykh.” Due to Harun being unknown, this narration is weak – Shaykh Al-Albani declared it to be Mawdu’ (Fabricated). (Silsilah Ahadith Ad-Da’ifa 1/202 #169)

Imam Abu Hatim Ar-Razi claimed that the narrator of this Hadith [in reality] is Muqatil bin Sulayman, who is a liar (‘Ilal Al-Hadith 2/56 #1652). Whereas in the Sunan of At-Tirmidhi, Sunan of Ad-Darimi (2/456 #3419), and Tarikh Baghdad (4/267), the narrator is Muqatil bin Hayyan, who is truthful – and Allah surely knows best.

2. In this same chapter, regarding the [same Hadith] narrated on the authority of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), Imam At-Tirmidhi wrote, “And it is no more authentic than the previous chain of narration, and its chain of narration is weak.” (Jami’ At-Tirmidhi #2887)

3. “Verily everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qur’an is Ya-Sin.” (Kashf Al-Astar ‘an Zawa’id Al-Bazzar 3/87 #2304 from the Hadith of ‘Ata’ bin Abi Rabah)

Shaykh Al-Albani wrote regarding this Hadith, “…and this Humayd (narrator) is unknown, just as Al-Hafidh said in Al-Taqrib, and I do not know ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Al-Fadhl, the Shaykh of Al-Bazzar.” (Silsilah Ahadith Ad-Da’ifa 1/204) – Meaning this narrator Humayd Al-Makki, Mawla of Aal ‘Alqamah (Tafsir Ibn Kathir 3/570) is unknown just as Hafidh Ibn Hajr said in Taqrib Al-Tadhib, and that he does not know the teacher of Al-Bazzar: ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Al-Fadhl. It is now understood that this narration is weak on account of two narrators being unknown.

4. “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the night will be forgiven in the morning.” (Musnad Abi Ya’la 11/93,94 #4324, and other than him from the path of Hisham bin Ziyad from Al-Hasan [Al-Basri] who said: I heard Abu Hurayrah…)

This chain of narration is severely weak, Hisham bin Ziyad is an abandoned narrator. (Al-Taqrib p.364 #7292)

5. “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the night, seeking the Face of Allah, he will be forgiven in that night.” (Sunan Ad-Darimi #3420, and other than him)

This chain of narration is weak on account of a disconnection, it is not established that Al-Hasan Al-Basri ever met Abu Hurayrah. Additionally, [Al-Hasan] was a Mudallis, and he is narrating with ‘An.³

6.  “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the night, seeking the Face of Allah, will be forgiven.” (Sahih Ibn Hibban, Marawid Adh-Dhaman #665, and other than him from Al-Hasan Al-Basri from Jundub)

This chain of narration if weak on account of a disconnection, Abu Hatim Ar-Razi said, “It is not correct that Al-Hasan heard from Jundub.” (Al-Marasil p. 42), Also see the previous Hadith.

7.  “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the night, seeking the Face of Allah (Most High), will be forgiven for what has preceded from his sins, so recite it over your dead.” (Al-Bayhaqi in Shu’b Al-Iman #2458, from the Hadith of Ma’qil bin Yasar)

This chain of narration is weak on account of an unknown narrator: Abu ‘Uthman and his father, who is also unknown. This Hadith is present in a shortened form in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (5/26,27), Mustadarak of Al-Hakim (1/565), Sahih Ibn Hibban (Al-Ihsan 7/269 #2991), Sunan Abi Dawud (#3121) and Sunan Ibn Majah (#1448), and Imam Ad-Daraqutni declared this Hadith to be weak. It has one weak supporting Hadith in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (4/105).

8.  “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the night will be forgiven in the morning.” (Hilyat Al-Awliya 4/130 form the Hadith of ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him.)

This narration is considered fabricated due to the narrator ‘Abu Maryam ‘Abdul-Ghaffar bin Al-Qasim Al-Kufi’, who is a liar and a fabricator. (Lisan Al-Mizan 4/50,51)

9. “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin will have the equivalent of twenty Hajj’s, and whosoever writes it then drinks it will have one thousand certainties and one thousand mercies enter his heart, and will have rancour and disease removed from it.” (Hilyat Al-Awliya 7/136 from the Hadith of Al-Harith Al-A’war from ‘Ali)

This narration is severely weak due to Al-Harith Al-A’war and the Tadlis of Abu Ishaq.

10. “I wish that it were in the heart of every person from my Ummah (meaning Ya-Sin).” (Kashf Al-Astar 3/87 #2305 from the Hadith of Ibn ‘Abbas)

The narrator of this Hadith, Ibrahim bin Al-Hakim bin Aban, is weak. (At-Taqrib #166)

11. “Whomsoever recites Surah Ya-Sin whilst he is experiencing the agonies of death, or he is close to it, the Treasurer of Paradise will come to him with a drink from the drinks of Paradise, and he will give it to him to drink whilst he is on his bed, so he will drink it then die, and he will not be in need of a Basin (Hawdh) from the Basins of the Prophets.” (Al-Wasit of Al-Wahidi 3/509)

This narration is fabricated – Yusuf bin ‘Atiyyah is an abandoned narrator (At-Taqrib At-Tadhib #7872) and Harun bin Kathir is unknown (Lisan Al-Mizan 6/218).

12. “Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin, then it is as if he recited the [entire] Qur’an ten times.”

This narration is Mursal due to Hayyan b. ‘Atiyyah.

13. “Surah Ya-Sin is called Al-Muni’mah in the Torah […].” (Shu’b Al-Iman of Al-Bayhaqi #2465, Ad-Du’afa of Al-‘Uqayli 1/347, Tablighi Nisab p.292,293, Fadha’il Al-Qur’an p.58, 59)

This narration is Mawdu’ (Fabricated), [the narrator] ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Bakr Al-Jad is abandoned in Hadith, and another narrator is unknown. Imam Bayhaqi said regarding this Hadith, “It is rejected.” Imam Al-‘Uqayli also rejected this narration. This Hadith also comes through a second chain of narration in Tarikh Baghdad and in Al-Mawdu’at of Ibn Al-Jawzi, the narrator [in this chain], Muhammad bin Abd bin ‘Amir As-Samarqandi, is a liar and abandoned.

14. “Verily I have made the recitation of Ya-Sin every night obligatory upon my Ummah, so whomsoever persists upon its recitation every night, then dies, will die the death of a Martyr.” (Al-Imam Ash-Shajri 1/118)

This narration is fabricated, not a single one of its narrators is known, for example ‘Umar bin Sa’d Al-Waqas, Abu Hafs bin ‘Umar bin Hafs and Abu ‘Amir bin Abdur-Rahim. To summarise – every Marfu’ narration on the virtues of Surah Ya-Sin is weak and rejected.

Imam Ad-Darimi, may Allah have mercy upon him, narrated: “‘Amr bin Zurarah narrated to me: ‘Abdul-Wahhab narrated to me: Rashid Abu Muhammad Al-Hamani narrated to me from Shahr bin Hawshab who said: ‘Ibn Abbas said, ‘Whomsoever recites Ya-Sin in the morning will be given an easy day until the evening, and whomsoever recites it in the middle of the night will be given an easy night until the morning.'” (Sunan Ad-Darimi 1/257 #3422, and its chain is Hasan)

A summarised biography of these narrators is as follows:

• ‘Umar bin Zurarah: Trustworthy. (At-Taqrib At-Tadhib #5032)
• ‘Abdul-Wahhab Ath-Thaqafi: Trustworthy, used to change (i.e., mix up Hadith) before his death for 3 years, however, this does not harm his Hadiths as he did not narrate Hadith in this period of time. (At-Taqrib At-Tadhib #4261)
• Rashid bin Nujayh Al-Hamani: Truthful and perhaps he made mistakes. (At-Taqrib At-Tadhib #1857) – He was a Hasan Al-Hadith narrator.
• Shahr bin Hawshab: The [Scholars of Hadith] differed on him as a narrator, the majority of the Muhaddithin declared him trustworthy. (As I have researched in my book: Takhrij An-Nihayah fi’l-Fitan w’al-Malahim p.119,120) – Hafidh Ibn Kathir declared one of his narrations to be ‘Hasan’. (Musnad Al-Faruq 1/228) In my research, this narrator is Hasan Al-Hadith.

The summary of this research is that this chain of narration is Hasan, and Allah surely knows best.

¹ [TN:] A Mursal narration is that which is narrated by a Tabi’i (student of a Sahabi) from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ without mentioning who he had taken it from, Shaykh Zubayr ‘Aliza’i said, “The position of the majority of the Scholars of Hadith is that the Mursal narration of a Tabi’i is rejected.” (Fatawa ‘Ilmiyyah 2/290)

² [TN:] Hafidh Ibn Kathir wrote regarding Marfu’, “That which is attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, whether it is speech or action…” (Ikhtisar ‘Ulum Al-Hadith with the annotations of Shaykh Zubayr ‘Aliza’i p.33)

³ [TN:]  Tadlis: Shaykh Zubair ‘Aliza’i wrote, “If a narrator transmits a narration from his Shaykh (with whom it is established that he met and heard from) using terms such as ‘An ([ عن from], this is an ambiguous form of narrating in Arabic which can imply that one heard it directly or indirectly from someone else) while he heard that narration from someone else (other than his Shaykh) – and those whom he narrates this to think that is likely that he heard it from his Shaykh, then this is known as ‘Tadlis’.” – see the Maqalat of Shaykh Zubair ‘Aliza’i, Volume 1, Page 252. In summary, Tadlis is a hidden weakness in a chain of narration caused by a narrator concealing whom he had actually heard the narration from by using ambiguous terms such as ‘An (عن). Shaykh Zubair ‘Aliza’i explains, “It is a famous and well-known issue in the Principles of Hadith (i.e., Hadith Sciences) that the narrations of the Mudallis (a narrator that practises Tadlis) that narrates by ‘An ( )عنis rejected and not a proof, meaning it is weak.” He further quoted from Imam Ash-Shafi’i who wrote, “So we say: We do not accept a Hadith from a Mudallis until he says ‘Hadathani (So-and-so narrated to me)’ or ‘Sami’tu (I heard directly, i.e., an explicit term used for transmitting directly)’.” [Ar-Risalah with the Tahqiq of Ahmad Shakir #1035] – see the Maqalat of Shaykh Zubair ‘Aliza’i, Volume 4, Page 151.