Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

1 – This

hadeeth is da’eef (weak). Despite its large number of isnads (chains of

transmission) they do not support one another, and there are many different

versions with different wordings, such as, “…Allah will resurrect him on the

Day of Resurrection among the fuqaha (jurists) and scholars,” and “… Allah

will resurrect him a scholar and a faqeeh (jurist),” and “I will be an

intercessor and a witness for him on the Day of Resurrection,” etc.

(a)

al-Hafiz ibn Hajar said:

It was

narrated by al-Hasan ibn Sufyan in his Musnad and in his Arba’een, from the

hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and he narrated it

from thirteen of the Sahabah/Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). It

was narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-‘Ilal al-Mutanahiyah, and he explained

that all of these hadeeths are da’eef.  Ibn al-Mundhir discussed it in a

separate volume, and I discussed it in the sixteenth chapter of al-Imla. I

mentioned all of its isnads in one volume but there is not one isnad that is

free of faults.

Al-Talkhees al-Habeer, 3/93,94.

(b)    Ibn

al-Mulaqqin said:

The

hadeeth “Whoever preserves forty hadeeth for my ummah (followers) will be

recorded as a faqeeh” was narrated via approximately twenty isnads, all of

which are da’eef (weak). Al-Daraqutni said: All its isnads are da’eef and

none of them are proven. Al-Bayhaqi said: Its isnads are weak.

Khalasat

al-Badr al-Muneer, 2/145

Al-Bayhaqi

said:

This text

is well known among the people but it has no saheeh (authentic) isnad.

Shu’ab

al-Eeman, 2/270

Al-Nawawi

said:

The

scholars of hadeeth are agreed that it is a weak hadeeth, although it has

many narrations.

Muqaddimat

al-Arba’een al-Nawawiyyah.

2 – We

should note here that there are reports in the Sunnah which mention the

virtue of listening to the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of

Allah be upon him) and conveying it, even if it is just one hadeeth.

It was

narrated that Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard

the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, “May

Allah bless a man who hears a hadeeth from us and memorizes it so that he

can convey it to others, for perhaps he is conveying it to one who will

understand it better than him, and perhaps the one who conveys knowledge

does not understand it himself.”

(Narrated

and classed as hasan (sound) by al-Tirmidhi, 2656; also narrated by Abu

Dawood. 3660; Ibn Majah, 230).

Al-Mubarakfoori said:

What is

meant is that Allah has singled him out for happiness and joy because of the

knowledge with which He has blessed him and the status among people in this

world and blessings in the Hereafter that he attains thereby, so that the

joy and blessings are seen on his face. And it was suggested that the

hadeeth indicates what happens to the person of joy and blessing that

appears on his face.

Tuhfat

al-Ahwadhi, 7/347, 348

And Allah

knows best.