Question

Is this Hadith sahih?

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) narrates, I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) 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 wa sallam) on the authority of Sayyiduna Sahl Ibn Sa’d (radiyallahu ‘anhuma), 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: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar