Spending On One’s Family On The Day Of Ashura (the 10th Of Muharram)
Some scholars have stated that one should treat oneself and one’s family on the day of ‘ Ashura ’, and several ahadith have been narrated from the Prophet (sws) concerning that, but they are all daef ( weak ). For a detailed study on all the major narrations in this regard and soundness of their chain of narrators, please refer to the [Foot Note 1] below. The content (‘ matan ‘) of this narration also appears to be at odds with the overall framework of Quran and Sunnah where, objective of any good deed is piety and is to be done solely for God and not for worldly gains. This hadith seems to be influenced by the same ‘ Sufi mind ‘ where many ahadith were concocted to attract people toward committing good deeds with immediate returns of this material world, for example, hadith that if you recite ‘ abc ‘ Surah of Quran ‘ xxx ‘ times, you will get abundance in wealth or any other wordly gain etc etc. This particular hadith also seems to be in line with the same notion of giving materialistic gladtidings of this world for people to do something good ( by any means necessary ). The content of this Hadith also goes against the uswa of the Prophet (sws) mentioned in Sahih Ahadith where He himself kept fast of Ashura and even encouraged other Muslims to observe that fast. Even before the fasts of Ramadan were made incumbent, He (sws) would necessarily keep it and would urge and direct people to keep it and would show vigilance on them in this regard. Ghamidi Sahab has accepted narration of Fasting on the day of Ashura and mentioned it in his book: ( Please see : Discussion 14832 • Reply 15013 ) ______________________________ [Foot Note 1] : Following is the original text of narration under discussion: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: مَنْ وَسَّعَ عَلَى أَهْلِهِ فِي يَوْمِ عَاشُورَاءَ أَوْسَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ سَنَتَهُ كُلَّهَا Prophet Muhammad said: “One who generously spends on his family on the 10th of Muharram (Ashura), Allah will be generous on him for the entire year .” ( Tabarani in his al-Awsat # 9302 ) * All other variants have the same wording with slight modifications . This specific topic has been narrated Marfuan ( مرفوعاً ) ( i.e. as a saying of Prophet Muhammad) from Prophet Muhammad (SWS) ) from a number of Sahaba namely: Abu Saeed Khudri , Abdullah ibn-e-Masud , Abdullah ibn-e-umar , Abu Huraira and Jabir bin Abdullah ( may Allah be pleased with them all ). It has also been narrated mauqufan ( موقوفا ) from Umar bin Khattab ( i.e. as a saying of Umar bin Khattab and not attributed to Prophet Muhammad (sws) ) Let’s discuss variants from each Sahabi separately : _____ Narration from Abu Saeed Khudri : It has been reported in following books: – Tabarani in his al-Awsat #9302 – Complete chain of narration but with Munkar narrator i.e. Muhammad bin Ismail al-Jafri. – Bayhaqi in his Shuab al-Iman #3514 – Broken chain of narration. – Hakim Trimdhi in Nawadir ul-asool from Abu Saeed Khudri – No chain of narration mentioned. Tabarani wrote after narrating this Hadith: لَا يُرْوَى هَذَا الْحَدِيثُ عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ إِلَّا بِهَذَا الْإِسْنَادِ، تَفَرَّدَ بِهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْجَعْفَرِيُّ “ This hadith is not narrated on the authority of Abu Saeed except with this chain of narrators, unique to it is narrator Muhammad bin Ismail al-Jafri ”. Regarding Muhammad bin Ismail al-Jafri : Abu Hatim said: منكر الحديث يتكلمون فيه “ They say he is munkar-e-Hadith ” ( Kitab-ul-Jarah wa Tadeel ) Ibn-e-Jauzi , Imam Dahabi and Ibn-e-Hajr Asqalani wrote the same statements with reference from Abu Hatim. Ibn-e-Hajar also wrote that Ibn-e-Hibban has included Muhammad bin Ismail al-Jafri in his book of Thiqat ( كتاب الثقات لابن حبان ) with reference from Ahmad bin Saed darmi and other people who are unknown. _____ Narration from Abdullah ibn-e-Masud : It has been reported in following books: – Tabarani in his Moajam ul-Kabir #10007 – Complete chain of narration with weak narrator Al-haitham bin Shaddakh – Bayhaqi in his Shuab al-Iman #3513 – Complete chain of narration with weak narrator Al-haitham bin Shaddakh – Khatib Baghdadi in his Al-Jama wal Tafriq #352 – Complete chain of narration with weak narrator Al-haitham bin Shaddakh The key chain of narration is same in all the three sources above, with chain starting from Abdullah ibn-e-Masud to Al-haitham bin Shaddakh : الهيصم بن الشداخ عن الأعمش عن إبراهيم عن علقمة عن عبد الله عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال من وسع على عياله يوم عاشوراء لم يزل في سعة سائر سنته. Imam Bayhaqi wrote: تَفَرَّدَ بِهِ هَيْصَمٌ عَنِ الْأَعْمَشِ “ There is uniqueness in narration from Aamish to Haitham ”. Aqeeli wrote: هيصم بن الشداخ كلاهما مجهول، والحديث غير محفوظ “ Al-haitham bin Shaddakh is an unknown narrator and his narrations are not safe to be reported ”. ( Kitab ul Dhufa lil Kabir ) Ibn-e-Hiban has included Haitham bin Shaddakh in his book of untrustworthy narrators ( Kitab ul-Majruheen #1174 ) _____ Narration from Abdullah ibn-e-Umar : – Originally reported by Darqutni in his Al-Ifrad (الدارقطني في الأفراد) Commentary done by: – Ibn-e-Jauzi through Darqutni in his Book of extremely weak narrations kitab ul-ilal #909 – Extremely weak narration as per Ibn-e-Jauzi – Ibn-ul-Qaisrani in his book of weak narrators Kitab ul-itraf al-gharaib #2948 – Extremely weak narration as per Ibn-ul-Qaisrani – Ibn-e-Hajar Asqalani has also reported narrators of this narration to be weak in his book Lisan ul Mizan #1098 _____ Narration from Abu Huraira : – Reported by Bayhaqi in his Shuab al-Iman #3515 Bayhaqi has accepted this narration despite admitting that this is weak, he writes: هَذِهِ الْأَسَانِيدُ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ ضَعِيفَةً فَهِيَ إِذَا ضُمَّ بَعْضُهَا إِلَى بَعْضٍ أَخَذَتْ قُوَّةً “ These chains of transmission, even if they are weak, but when combined, they become strong ”. Aqeeli said about one of the narrators: وَسُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: مَجْهُولٌ بِالنَّقْلِ , وَالْحَدِيثُ غَيْرُ مَحْفُوظٍ “ Salman bin abi abdullah is an unknown narrator and his narrations are not safe to be reported ”. ( Kitab ul Dhufa lil Kabir ) _____ Narration from Jabir bin Abdullah : It has been reported in following books: – Ibn-e-Abdul Bar in his book Al-istazkar – Weak narration – Bayhaqi in his Shuab al-Iman #3512 – Imam Bayhaqi calls it Weak Narration Hafiz Ibn-e-Hajar Asqalani writes: روى عنه ابن عبد البر في الاستذكار من طريقه حديثا منكرا جدا “ The narration in Ibn-e-Abdul Bar’s Al-istazkar is from a munkar chain of narration ” ( Lisan ul Mizan ) Sama’ of two narrators in narration of ibn-e-abdul bar is not proven (i.e. Shoba from Abi-Zubair ) Therefore, Ibn-e-Hiban wrote: وَلَمْ يَسْمَعْ شُعْبَةُ مِنْ أَبِي الزُّبَيْرِ إِلَّا حَدِيثًا وَاحِدًا “ And Shoba did not hear from Abi-Zubair except for one Hadith ” ( Kitab ul-Majruheen #84 ) Similarly, Abu-Yala Al Khalili writes: شعبة لا يروي عن أبي الزبير شيئا “ Shoba does not narrate anything on the authority of Abi-Zubair ” ( kitab ul Irshad ) Similarly, Bayhaqi writes at the end of narration: “ هَذَا إِسْنَادٌ ضَعِيفٌ ” “ This is a weak chain of narrators ” But as mentioned earlier, Imam Bayhaqi has accepted all these narrations as authentic despite admitting that they are weak (Daef) narrations, and he writes: هَذِهِ الْأَسَانِيدُ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ ضَعِيفَةً فَهِيَ إِذَا ضُمَّ بَعْضُهَا إِلَى بَعْضٍ أَخَذَتْ قُوَّةً “ These chains of transmission, even if they are weak, but when combined, they become strong ”. _____ As for Mauquf narration by Umar bin Khattab : – Ibn-e-Abdul Bar mentioned this narration in his book Al-istazkar Regarding this narration, Ibn-e-Rajab writes: وفي إسناده مجهول لا يعرف . “ And it’s chain is dubious, not known ” ( Lataif ul Muarif ) Conclusion : Therefore, after studying all the major narrations on this subject-matter, it can be safely concluded that these ahadith should not be attributed to Prophet Muhammad (SWS) and are weak in their chain of transmission.