How sound is the hadeeth, “Whoever sends blessings upon me eighty times on Friday, his sins will be forgiven for eighty years”?

This
hadeeth was narrated by Ibn Shaheen in at-Targheeb fi Fadaa’il al-A‘maal
(p. 14) via ‘Awn ibn ‘Umaarah, from Sakan al-Burjumi, from Hajjaaj ibn
Sinaan, from ‘Ali ibn Zayd, from Sa‘eed ibn al-Musayyib, from Abu Hurayrah,
who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
said: “Sending blessings upon me will be light on the siraat. Whoever sends
blessings upon me eighty times on Friday, his sins will be forgiven for
eighty years.” 

Some of
the later scholars were lenient and classed this hadeeth as hasan; however
the correct view is that the hadeeth is da‘eef (weak), and in fact it is
da‘eef jiddan (very weak), because its isnaad includes three da‘eef
narrators, namely: 

1.

‘Ali ibn
Zayd ibn Jad‘aan al-Basri 

Hammaad
ibn Zayd said: He used to mix up hadeeths. Shu‘bah stated that he was
confused. Ahmad said: He is nothing. Abu Zar‘ah said: He is not strong; he
made mistakes. Abu Haatim said: He cannot be quoted as evidence.
Ad-Daaraqutni said: In my view there is still some weakness in him

End quote
from al-Mughni fi ad-Du‘afa’ by adh-Dhahabi (2/447) 

2.

Hajjaaj
ibn Sinaan 

Al-Azdi
said concerning him: He is matrook (rejected). See: Lisaan al-Mizaan
by Ibn Hajar (2/563). 

3.

‘Awn ibn
‘Umaarah al-Qaysi 

Abu Zar‘ah
said: His hadeeth is odd. Al-Haakim said: I met him but I did not write down
anything from him, and his hadeeth was odd and he was weak in narrating
hadeeth. Abu Dawood said: He is da‘eef.

End quote
from Tahdheeb at-Tahdheeb (8/173). 

Among the
imams (leading scholars) who classed the hadeeth as da‘eef were:
ad-Daaraqutni; al-Haafiz ibn Hajar in Nataa’ij al-Afkaar (5/56)’
as-Sakhkhaawi in al-Qawl al-Badee‘ (p.284); al-Mannaawi in Fayd
al-Qadeer (4/249); al-Hoot al-Beiruti in Asna al-Mataalib (p.
175); Shaykh al-Albaani in al-Silsilah ad-Da‘eefah (8/274). 

There is a
corroborating report for the hadeeth in the hadeeth of Anas ibn Maalik, who
said: I was standing in front of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) and he said: “Whoever sends blessings upon me on
Friday eighty times, Allah will forgive him the sins of eighty years.” It
was said: How may we send blessings upon you, O Messenger of Allah? He said:
“Say: ‘O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad, Your slave, Your Messenger and
Your Prophet, the unlettered Prophet’ and count it as one.”

Narrated
by al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadi in Tareekh Baghdad (13/464). Its isnaad
includes Wahb ibn Dawood ibn Sulaymeen ad-Dareer.

Adh-Dhahabi said: al-Khateeb said: He was not trustworthy. Then he mentioned
a hadeeth fabricated by him.

End quote
from al-Mughni fi ad-Du‘afa’ (2/727) 

Something
similar was mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Ahaadeeth al-Waahiyah
(no. 796 – where he listed very weak hadeeths). 

Shaykh
al-Albaani said: He should have listed it in his other book, al-Ahaadeeth
al-Mawdoo‘aat (Fabricated Hadeeths). That would have been more
appropriate, because tThe signs of fabrication are very clear in it. The
saheeh hadeeths that speak of the virtue of sending blessings upon the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) are sufficient and there
is no need for reports such as this. For example, the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever sends blessings upon me once,
Allah will send blessings upon him tenfold.” Narrated by Muslim and others.
End quote. Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth ad-Da‘eefah wa al-Mawdoo‘ah (1/383) 

And Allah
knows best.