What is the status of the below? Is it a Hadith of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and who is Al Hasan?
Al Hasan (rahimahullah) said:
“A maiden of Jannah will speak to the Wali of Allah while he is laying with her on [the shore of] a river of honey in Jannah, while she hands him a glass [of the sweetest drink] and she will ask him: ‘Do you know what day Allah married me to you?’ He will reply, ‘No.’ She will say, ‘He saw you [fasting] on a long summers day while you were thirsty in the midday heat, and He called the Angels and said: ‘Look at My slave, he has left his wife, his desires, his pleasures, his food and his drink for Me due to his longing for what I have prepared for him. Bear witness that I have forgiven him.’ And so He forgave you on that day and married you to me.”
(Lataiful Ma’arif by ibn Rajab Al Hambali, pg. 282)
Answer
Imam Abu Bakr ibn Abid Dunya (rahimahullah) has recorded this narration as the statement of the Tabi’i, Hasan Al Basri (rahimahullah) with a weak chain.
(Kitabul Ju’ of Ibn Abid Dunya, Hadith: 39. Refer: Mizanul I’tidal, vol. 2 pg. 121, number: 2998 and Taqribut Tahdhib: 2276)
Note:
1) Although the chain is weak, the narration is suitable to quote for purposes of encouraging fasting, as is the case with Hadiths of this nature.
2) The narration should be quoted as the statement of Hasan Al Basri (rahimahullah), although it will be understood that he did not say this applying his own logic.
And Allah Ta’ala Knows best.
Answered by: Moulana Suhail Motala
Approved by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar