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The hadith about the eclipse of the sun and moon when the Mahdi emerges is not saheeh

Question: 26836

I used to belong to the Ahmadi sect but praise be to Allah, Allah has guided me to the Sunnah, myself, my mother and two of my brothers. I ask Allah to guide my father and all my brothers and sisters.

I have read a hadith which says that one of the signs of the Mahdi will be that the sun and moon will be eclipsed in the month of Ramadan, when he first appears. Is this hadith saheeh (sound) or da’eef (weak)?.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.

We praise Allah for having guided you and saved you from the danger of this deviant sect, and we ask Him to bless your father and all your family with right guidance.

With regard to the report that you refer to, this is not a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), rather it was narrated by al-Daaraqutni in his Sunan (2/65) from the words of Muhammad ibn al-Haneefiyyah (the son of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib). Al-Daraqutni said: Abu Sa’eed al-Astakhri told us, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd-Allah ibn Nawfal told us, ‘Ubayd ibn Ya’eesh told us, Yoonus ibn Bakeer told us, from ‘Amr ibn Shamr, from Jabir, from Muhammad ibn ‘Ali who said:

“Our Mahdi will have two signs, which have never appeared since the heavens and earth were created. The moon will be eclipsed on the first night of Ramadan and the sun will be eclipsed halfway through, and this has never happened since Allah created the heavens and the earth.”

This report is mawdoo’ (fabricated) and is falsely attributed to Muhammad ibn ‘Ali (ibn al-Haneefiyyah), may Allah have mercy on him.

Dr. ‘Abd al-‘Aleem ‘Abd al-‘Azeem al-Bastawi said in his book al-Mawsoo’ah fi Ahadith al-Mahdi al-Da’eefah wa’l-Mawdoo’ah, p. 169:

“Its isnaad includes Yoonus ibn Bakeer ibn Waasil al-Shaybaani, Abu Bakr al-Jammaal al-Kufi (d. 199 AH), who makes mistakes; and ‘Amr ibn Shamr al-Ja’fi al-Kufi, the Shi’i Abu ‘Abd-Allah, who is a fabricator of reports.

Al-Sulaymaani said: ‘Amr used to fabricate ahadith to support the Raafidis (Shi’is).

Al-Jawzjaani said: He is a liar and deviant.

Al-Hakim said: There were many fabricated reports from Jabir al-Ja’fi, and no one narrated these false and fabricated reports from Jabir except him.

Ibn Hibban said: He is a Rafidi (Shi’i) who used to defame the Sahabah and narrate fabricated reports from trustworthy narrators.

Abu Hatim said: His hadith is munkar and da’eef, and should be ignored; they [the scholars] ignored him.

He was described in such negative terms by more than one of the scholars, including al-Bukhari, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Sa’d, al-Daraqutni and others.

Jabir is al-Ja’fi, who is matrook al-hadith. Shu’bah, Wakee’ and al-Thawri described him as trustworthy, but Ibn Ma’een, Abu Haneefah, Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, al-Jawzjani, Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Ibn Kharrash, Sa’eed ibn Jubayr and others described him as a liar, and many described him as da’eef (weak).

Al-Dhahabi said: Only Shu’bah described him as trustworthy so he was at odds with other scholars, and the scholars of hadith ignored his narrations.

Ibn Hajar said: he is da’eef (weak) and a Rafidi (Shi’i).

In conclusion: this report is mawdoo’ (fabricated) and the problem in its isnad is ‘Amr al-Ja’fi.

Al-‘Azeemabadi said: ‘Amr ibn Shamr from Jabir: both of them are da’eef (weak) and cannot be quoted as evidence.”

And Allah knows best.

Reference

Source

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