'My life is better for you' (Hayati khayrun lakum) and Lake-Fount Hadiths

Wa alaikum as Salam wa rahmatullah:

May Allah bless your deeds with His acceptance and increase your
beneficial knowledge.

This reply is in two parts. The first part is about the status and
meaning of the first hadith. The second part reconciles the apparent
contradiction with the second hadith by contextualizing the latter
through its variant wordings.

I. The Hadith "Hayati Khayrun Lakum"

The Prophet said, upon him blessings and peace: "My life is an immense
good for you: you bring up new matters and new matters are brought up
for you. My death, also, is an immense good for you: your actions will
be shown to me; if I see goodness I shall praise Allh and if I see evil
I shall ask forgiveness of Him for you."

(H.ayt khayrun lakum tuh.dithna wa yuh.dathu lakum wa-waft khayrun
lakum tu`rad.u a`mlukum `alayya fam ra'aytu min khayrin h.amidtu
Allha wa-m ra'aytu min sharrin istaghfartu Allha lakum.)

Narrated from Ibn Mas`d by al-Bazzr in his Musnad (5:308-309 1925)
with a sound chain of trustworthy narrators as stated by:

1. al-Suyt. in Manhil al-S.af (p. 31 8) and al-Khas.'is. al-Kubr
(2:281),

2. al-Haytham in Majma` al-Zawa'id (9:24 91),

3. al-Zarqn in Sharh. al-Muwat.t.a' (1:97) and his commentary on
al-Qast.alln's Mawhib al-Lduniyya.

4. al-`Irq in T.arh. al-Tathrb (3:297) – his last book, as
opposed to al-Mughn `an H.aml al-Asfr (4:148) where he questions the
trustworthy rank of one of the narrators in al-Bazzr's chain cf.
al-Zabd, Ith.f (9:176-177).

5. Shihb al-Dn al-Khafj in his commentary on Qd. `Iyd.'s al-Shif
(1:102).

6. Shaykh `Abd Allh al-Tald said in his Tahdhb al-Khas.'is.
al-Kubr (p. 458-459 694) that this chain is sound according to
Muslim's criterion.

7. Shaykh Mahmd Mamdh. in Raf` al-Minra (p. 156-169) discusses it at
length and also declares it sound.

8. Their shaykh, Sayyid `Abd Allh ibn al-S.iddq al-Ghumr (d.
1413/1993) declared it sound in his monograph Nihyat al-ml f Sharh.
wa-Tas.h.h. H.adth `Ard. al-A`ml.

Opposing these judgments, al-Albn declares it weak in his notes on
al-Qd. Ism`l's Fad.l al-S.alt (p. 37 n. 1) and in his Silsila
D.a`fa (2:405).

It is also narrated with weak chains from Anas and – with two
sound mursal chains missing the Companion-link – from the
Successor Bakr ibn `Abd Allh al-Muzan by Ibn Sa`d (2:194) and Ism`l
al-Qd. (d. 282) in his Fad.l al-S.alt `al al-Nab sallAllahu `alayhi
wa-Sallam (p. 36-37 25-26).

The latter chain was declared sound by:

9. Mull al-Qr in Sharh. al-Shif (1:102),

10. Shaykh al-Islm al-Taq al-Subk in Shif' al-Siqm, and

11. his critic Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Hd in al-S.rim al-Munk (p. 217)
despite his excessive rigor and harshness, and may Allh forgive him!

12. Albn himself in his edition of Fad.l al-S.alt.

A third, weak chain is related from Bakr al-Muzan by al-H.rith ibn Ab
Usma in his Musnad (2:884 953) as per Ibn H.ajar in al-Mat.lib
al-`liya (4:23) and Ibn Sa`d in his T.abaqt as per al-Munw (3:401
3771). Al-Qd. `Iyd. cites it in al-Shif (p. 58 6) and al-Sakhw
in al-Qawl al-Bad` (p. 324).

Al-Albn declared the h.adth weak on the grounds that some authorities
questioned the memorization of one of its narrators, the Murji' h.adth
Master `Abd al-Majd ibn `Abd al-`Azz ibn Ab Rawwd. However, he was
retained by Muslim in his S.ah.h. and declared thiqa by Yah.y ibn
Ma`n, Ah.mad, Ab Dwd, al-Nas', Ibn Shhn, al-Khall, and
al-Draqut.n while al-Dhahab lists him in Man Tukullima Fhi wa-Huwa
Muwaththaq (p. 124) as stated by Mamdh. in Raf` al-Minra (p. 163,
167). Al-Arna't. and Ma`rf declare him thiqa in Tah.rr al-Taqrb
(2:379 4160) as well as `Itr in his edition of al-Dhahab's Mughn
(1:571 3793) and al-Ah.dab in Zaw'id Trkh Baghdd (10:464).

Even if al-Albn's grading were hypothetically accepted, then the weak
musnad narration in conjunction with the sound mursal one – graded
s.ah.h. by him – would yield a final grading of h.asan or
s.ah.h., not d.a`f! In addition to this, Mamdh. quoted al-Albn's
own words in the latter's attempted refutation of Ism`l al-Ans.r
entitled Kitb al-Shaybn (1:134-135) whereby "The sound mursal h.adth
is a proof in all Four Schools and other than them among the Imms of
the principles of h.adth and fiqh, therefore it is apparent to every
fair-minded person that the position whereby such a h.adth does not
form a proof only because it is mursal, is untenable." This is one of
many examples in which al-Albn not only contradicts, but soundly
refutes himself.

Shaykh H.asanayn Muh.ammad Makhlf wrote in his Fatw Shar`iyya
(1:91-92): "The h.adth means that the Prophet, upon him blessings and
peace, is a great good for his Community during his life, because Allh
the Exalted has preserved the Community, through the secret of the
Prophet's presence, upon him blessings and peace, from misguidance,
confusion, and disagreement, and He has guided the people through the
Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, to the manifest truth; and that
after Allh took back the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, our
connection to the latter's goodness continues uncut and the extension of
his goodness endures, overshadowing us. The deeds of the Community are
shown to him every day, and he glorifies Allh for the goodness that he
finds, while he asks for His forgiveness for the small sins, and the
alleviation of His punishment for the grave ones: and this is a
tremendous good for us. There is therefore `goodness for the Community
in his life, and in his death, goodness for the Community.' Moreover, as
has been established in the h.adth, the Prophet, upon him blessings and
peace, is alive in his grave with a special `isthmus-life' stronger
than the lives of the martyrs which the Qur'n spoke of in more than one
verse. The nature of these two kinds of life cannot be known except by
their Bestower, the Glorious, the Exalted. He is able to do all things.
His showing the Community's deeds to the Prophet, upon him blessings and
peace, as an honorific gift for him and his Community is entirely
possible rationally and documented in the reports. There is no leeway
for its denial; and Allh guides to His light whomever He pleases; and
Allh knows best."

II. The Hadith of the Lake-Fount

These hadiths refer to the hypocrites who lived around the Prophet, upon
him blessings and peace, and whose outward status and designation in his
life were the same as the Companions. The Prophet, upon him blessings
and peace, confirmed this designation when he said to Abd Allah ibn Abd
Allah ibn Ubay ibn Salul who had offered to kill his own father, who was
the chief hypocrite in Madina: "No, lest people say: Muhammad kills his
own companions." Note that the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, in
his immense mercy, never despaired that they would repent and he
lavished even upon those of them who harmed him the most, his persistant
consideration and unfathomable generosity.

Thus, among those outwardly designated "Companions" will be the
unrepentent hypocrites and those who committed ridda, both of whose
types are in reality kuffar. Thus they will come as "Companions" but
will be turned away. "Each one proclaims his kinship to Layla / But
Layla does not confirm it for any of them."

The question remains: Why is the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace,
told: "'You do not know they turned Apostates"? There are several
answers to this:

1. The Prophet's designation of them as "My Companions" and the reply of
the angels: "Do you not know..." are meant as didactic disclosures to
the hypocrites that although they enter into his mercy in this world,
they will not be allowed to enter it in the next unless they repent
beforehand. The style of this disclosure is dramatic and develops as if
from a state of ignorance to a state of discovery in order for the
disclosure to be more effective. However, such ignorance-then-discovery
are not literal for the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace. How could
they be when he is the one who is prophesying that this shall take
place??

2. Should we hold the view that the Prophet, upon him blessings and
peace, was only prophesying the general knowledge that this will take
place but does not, indeed, know the personal details of those involved,
hence he calls them "My Companions" literally, the answer is that the
reply of the angels refers to the Murtadds of the Umma whose ridda was
kept hidden from the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, so as not to
harm him. This interpretation qualifies the meaning of the hadith
"Hayati khayrun lakum" and thus his knowledge in the grave excludes
ridda and the murtadds as this would pain the Prophet, upon him
blessings and peace, to no end.

3. A variant of the fount hadith in the Nine Books shows that it
includes, in fact, ALL the murtadds of the Umma until the end of time:
"The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to the graveyard and
said, 'Peace be upon you, abode of the believing people and we, if God
so wills, are about to join you! I love to see my brothers.' They said,
'Are we not your brothers, Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'You are my
companions, and our brothers are those who have, so far, not come into
the world.' They said, 'Messenger of Allah, how would you recognize
those persons of your ummah who have not yet been born?' He said,
'Supposing a man had horses with white blazes on foreheads and legs
among horses which were all black, tell me, would he not recognize his
own horses?' They said, 'Certainly, Messenger of Allah.' He said, 'They
would come with white faces and arms and legs owing to ablution, and I
would arrive at the Lake-Fount before them. Some people would be driven
away from my Lake-Fount as the stray camel is driven away. I would call
out, 'Come! Come!'. Then it would be said (to me), 'These people changed
themselves after you.' I would then say, 'Be off, be off."

4. Another version in the two Sahihs, Sunan and Musnad alludes to the
fact that the actual Companions of the Prophet, upon him blessings and
peace, are excluded, because he retells the fount scene as part of a
dream he has just seen and from which he wakes up smiling. If the dream
involved the expulsion of any of his actual Companions, it is
inconceivable that he would wake up in such a state of cheer and
elation:

The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) was sitting among us then
he dozed off. He then raised his head, smiling. We asked, 'What makes
you smile, Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'A Sura has just been revealed
to me, and then recited: In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the
Merciful. Verily we have given you al-Kawthar. Therefore turn to thy
Lord for the prayer and offer sacrifice, and surely thy enemy is cut off
(from the good).' Then he asked, 'do you know what al-Kawthar is?' We
said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'It is a river which
my Lord, the Exalted and Glorious, has promised me, and there is an
abundance of good in it. It is a lake-fount and my people would come to
it on the day of resurrection, and the number of tumblers there would be
equal to the number of stars. A servant would be turned away from (among
the people gathering there). Upon this I would say: My Lord, he is one
of my people, and He (the Lord) would say: You do not know what he
innovated after you.'

Benefit: Al-Zarqani in Sharh al-Muwatta' mentions that Ibn Shakir
narrates in his Manaqib al-Shafi`i with his chain to Yunus ibn `Abd
al-A`la from his teacher al-Shafi`i that the latter said his teacher
Imam Malik only regretted including one hadith in the Muwatta', namely,
the hadith of the lake-fount. The reason for this, and Allah knows best,
is that Malik typically hated for some people to be potentially confused
or, worse, misled by certain hadiths connected to doctrine; in this
particular case, with regard to either the Prophet's God-given
foreknowledge or the honor of his blessed Companions which the Qur'an,
the Sunna, and the Consensus made categorical and obligatory knowledge.

And Allah knows best.

gibril

See also

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hanafi/message/5525