Question

Is this Hadih authentic?

Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) asked for water and a Jew gave him some, so Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to him,

‘May Allah make you beautiful,’

The man did not see grey hair till he died.”

 

Answer

This particular incident is authentically recorded in several Hadith collections. However, the person mentioned was not a Jew. He was a Sahabi (radiyallahu ‘anhu) from the Khazraj part of the Ansar of Madinah.

This narration is as follows:

Sayyiduna Abu Zayd, ‘Amr ibn Akhtab (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) asked for water. I brought him water in a bowl. I noticed a strand of hair in it, which I removed. Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “O Allah, Beautify him.”

The narrator says: I saw him at the age of ninety four without any white hair on his head or beard.

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith: 7172, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hadith: 32417, Musnad Ahmad, vol. 5, pg. 340 and Mustadrak Hakim, vol. 4, pg. 139. Also see Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith: 3629 and Musnad Ahmad, vol. 5, pg. 77)

The correct version of the incident of the Jew

There was another occasion in which a jew had milked a camel and offered the milk to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) then made the same du’a for him: “O Allah, beautify him.”

The narration states, his hair then became black. One version states that this person lived for about seventy years and his hair never became white.

(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hadith: 26340, 30453, 32416, Musannaf ‘Abdur Razzaq, Hadith: 19462 and ‘Amalul Yawmi wal Laylah of ibnus Sunni, Hadith: 285)

 

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,

Answered by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar