Question

I have noticed that a lot of people are very easily giving fatawa these days without even realising or speaking about issues they are not qualified to speak about. Please inform me if this Hadith is authentic or not so that I can warn people away from the above practice.

It is narrated that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever gives a fatwa without knowledge, the Angels of Jannah and the earth curse him.” 

Answer

The Hadith in question is recorded by Khatib Baghdadi (rahimahullah)  and has been declared a fabrication (mawdu’) by Hafiz Dhahabi (rahimahullah).

(Al-Faqih wal Mutafaqqih, Hadith: 1043 and Mizanul i’tidal, vol. 2, pg. 390)

One may quote the following Hadith instead:

“One who issues fatwa to the people without [proper] knowledge, will bear the sin [of that malpractice].”

(Mustadrak Hakim, vol. 1, pg. 126, Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith: 3649, Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith: 53 and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 2, pg. 321 and pg. 365)

Allah Ta’ala says:

“And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed the hearing, the sight and the heart, about all of those, [one] will be questioned.”

(Surah Isra, Verse: 36)

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,

Answered by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar