Receiving phone messages to forward hadeeth

22-8-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I have heard a mufti say that if you receive a message on your mobile which says "If you forward this hadith, you will get rewards," it is completely forbidden to forward these types of messages as it can cause a person to lose his or her faith. Please clarify. May Allahr reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If this message contained an authentic hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah there is no harm in posting it and urging others to forward it. Anas ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "May Allah brighten (the face of) a person who hears my words and memorizes them and then conveys them from me." [Ibn Maajah]

The same ruling applies if the message contains useful religious or worldly information, because promoting such information is something good that should be promoted and spread.

However, it is impermissible to say decisively, "If you forward this hadeeth, you will get rewards", because this belongs to the matters of the Unseen, as a person may or may not earn rewards for it. There is no harm if he meant that it is hoped that he would earn rewards, according to the general indication of the texts in this regard. For instance, Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "Whoever guides to good is like the one who does it (in reward)." [At-Tirmithi]

We do not know who this mufti is or in what context he made this statement. We do not believe that a reliable scholar would say the statement mentioned in the question regarding the ruling on forwarding a hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah unless he was speaking about something else that we do not know of.

Allah knows best.