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The virtues of reaching old age

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by HadithAnswers.com

Please verify the authenticity of the following narration:

‘No one reaches forty years in Islam except that Allah protects him from madness, leprosy and leucoderma. When he is fifty, Allah makes easy his reckoning. When he reaches sixty, Allah grants him repentance. And when he reaches seventy, Allah loves him and the inhabitants of the heavens love him. And when he reaches eighty, Allah accepts his good deeds and overlooks his sins. When he reaches ninety, Allah forgives his past and future sins, he is named ‘the prisoner of Allah on earth’ and is granted intercession (for forgiveness) for his family.’

Answer

This Hadith is reported by several Sahabah (radiyallahu ‘anhum) and is recorded in many Hadith collections with slight variations in the wording.

References:

Musnad Ahmad, vol.2 pg.89 and vol.3 pg.218

Musnad Bazzar, see Kashful Astar, Hadith: 3587-3589

Kitabuz Zuhd of Imam Bayhaqi, Hadith: 650-652

Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqalani (rahimahullah) has mentioned seven Sahabah that have reported it.

(Ma’rifatul Khisalil Mukaffirah, pg. 89)

Authenticity

Hafiz Ibn Hajar (rahimahullah) has mentioned that the chain in Bayhaqi is the best as all its narrators are reliable, besides one who is supported by another narrator anyway.

(Ma’rifatul Khisalil Mukaffirah, pg. 108)

Hafiz Ibn ‘Asakir (rahimahullah) has graded the Hadith as sound (hasan)

(Lisanul Mizan, no. 1582)

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best

Answered by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Moulana Haroon Abasoomar

This answer was collected from HadithAnswers.com. The answers were either answered or checked by Moulana Haroon Abasoomar (rahimahullah) who was a Shaykhul Hadith in South Africa, or by his son, Moulana Muhammad Abasoomer (hafizahullah), who is a Hadith specialist. 

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