Is this Hadith sahih?
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) narrates, I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) saying:
He who comes to my Masjid (Masjidun Nabawi) with no other intention but to learn or teach a good deed is like a Mujahid in the path of Allah. And he who comes with some other intention is like one who has come to look at the belongings of others [and this looking is of no benefit to him].
Answer
Some Hadith masters have declared this narration as authentic (sahih). Among those are:
Imams: Ibn Hibban, Hakim and Dhahabi (rahimahumullah).
(Sahih Ibn Hibban; Al-Ihsan, Hadith: 87 and Mustadrak Hakim, vol. 1 pg. 91. Also see: Targhib, Hadith: 146)
‘Allamah Busiri (rahimahullah) has declared the chain of Ibn Majah as authentic too.
(Misbahuz Zujajah, Hadith: 83)
Further substantiation
Their view is supported by the fact that Imam Tabarani (rahimahullah) has recorded this as a Hadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu’alayhi wasallam) on the authority of Sayyiduna Sahl Ibn Sa’d (radiyallahu’anhu), with a good chain.
(Refer: Majma’uz Zawaid, vol. 1 pg. 123)
However, some experts have ruled this as more authentically reported as the statement of the Tabi’i; Ka’b Al-Ahbar (rahimahullah).
(See Misbahuz Zujajah, Hadith: 83 and Shaykh ‘Awwamah’s footnotes on Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hadith: 7598)
Nevertheless, both the chains are reliable and may be quoted either way.
And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,
Answered by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar
Checked by: Moulana Haroon Abasoomar