Are our deeds shown to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)?

What is proven is that when the Muslims send blessings (salawaat) upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), that reaches him and is shown to him.

It was narrated that Aws ibn Aws said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “One of the best of your days is Friday. On it, Adam was created and on it he died. On it the Trumpet will be blown and on it all of creation will swoon. So send a great deal of blessings upon me on that day, for your blessings will be shown to me.” They said: O Messenger of Allah, how will our blessings upon you be shown to you when you have turned to dust? He said: “Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets.”

Narrated by Abu Daawood (1047) and an-Nasaa’i (1374). Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwaa’ al-Ghaleel (1/34).

It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has angels who travel around the earth, conveying to me the salaam (greeting of peace) of my ummah.”

Narrated by an-Nasaa’i (1282); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah (6/842).

With regard to other deeds, we know of no sound religious text to indicate that they are shown to him.

The hadith of Ibn Mas‘ood quoted above was narrated by al-Bazzaar with an addition at the end which suggests that the deeds of the ummah are shown to him. Al-Bazzaar said in his Musnad (5/308):

Yoosuf ibn Moosa told us: ‘Abd al-Majeed ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Abi Rawwaad told us, from Sufyaan, from ‘Abdullah ibn as-Saa’ib, from Zaadhaan, from ‘Abdullah, that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has angels who travel around the earth, conveying to me the salaam (greeting of peace) of my ummah.”

He said: And the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “My living is good for you, for you will be told what is good and what is bad for you; and my death is good for you, for your deeds will be shown to me, then whatever I see of good, I will praise Allah for it, and whatever I see of bad, I will pray to Allah to forgive you.”

With regard to the last part of this hadith, we do not know of it being narrated from ‘Abdullah except via this isnad. End quote.

Shaykh al-Albaani explained why this report is da‘eef (weak). This hadith was narrated by a number of narrators, without the addition at the end which speaks of deeds being shown (to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)). That part was narrated only by ‘Abd al-Majeed ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Abi Rawwaad. The scholars criticised his poor memory; therefore this addition is odd (shaadhdh) and is to be rejected, in accordance with the principle of the scholars of hadith, as Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

A number of trustworthy scholars are agreed on the narration from Sufyaan, without the additional material, “My living…” There is also a corroborating report from al-A‘mash to that effect, which – in my view – indicates that this addition is odd (shaadhdh), because of the fact that ‘Abd al-Majeed ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez is the only one who narrated it, especially since he is the one  concerning whom there were some doubts about his memory, even though he was of those from whom Muslim narrated, and a number of scholars regarded him as trustworthy (thiqah), whilst others classed him as weak (da‘eef), and some of them explained the reason for that.

Al-Khaleeli said: He is trustworthy, but he made mistakes in some hadiths.

An-Nasaa’i said: He is not strong, but his hadith may be written down.

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said: He narrated from Maalik some hadiths in which he made mistakes.

Ibn Hibbaan said in al-Majrooheen (2/152): His hadith is munkar jiddan (very odd); he mixes up reports and narrates odd reports from well-known scholars, so he deserves to be rejected.

I say: Hence al-Haafiz said of him in at-Taqreeb: He is honest (sadooq) but makes mistakes.

Based on the above, then with regard to the words of al-Haafiz al-Haythami in al-Majma‘ (6/24): Narrated by al-Bazzaar and its men are the men of as-Saheeh, we may note that by saying this he is giving the impression that none of the narrators of this hadith were subject to criticism. Perhaps as-Suyooti based his view of that when he said (mistakenly) in al-Khasaa’is al-Kubra (2/281): Its isnad is saheeh.

Hence I say: al-Haafiz al-‘Iraqi – Shaykh al-Haythami – was more precise in describing the nature of al-Bazzaar’s isnad when he said concerning it in Takhreej al-Ihyaa’ (4/128): Its men are the men of as-Saheeh, except ‘Abd al-Majeed ibn Abi Rawwaad; even though Muslim narrated from him and Ibn Ma‘een and an-Nasaa’i classed him as trustworthy (thiqah), many other scholars classed him as weak (da‘eef).

I say: As for his – or his son’s – saying, in Tarh at-Tathreeb fi Sharh at-Taqreeb (3/297): Its isnad is jayyid (good) – in my view it is not jayyid; it could have been jayyid, were it not for the fact that ‘Abd al-Majeed was narrating something different from what was narrated by the trustworthy narrators, as mentioned above. This is the problem with the hadith, even though I have not come across anyone who pointed it out or discussed it, except a statement of al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer that I quoted from his book al-Bidaayah. And Allah knows best.

Yes, this hadith has a sound isnad which goes back to Bakr ibn ‘Abdillah al-Muzani, but it is mursal.

In conclusion, I say: This hadith is da‘eef (weak) in all its isnaads; the best of them is the hadith of Bakr ibn ‘Abdillah al-Muzani, but it is mursal, and mursal is one of the categories of da‘eef hadiths, according to the scholars of hadith.

End quote from Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth ad-Da‘eefah (2/404-406).

For more information, see also: al-Irshaadaat fi Taqwiyah al-Hadith bi’sh-Shawaahid wa’l-Mutaaba‘aat by Shaykh Taariq ‘Awadullah (365-368).

Moreover, this hadith is contradicted by one that is more sound, which is what is proven from a number of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them), including Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) delivered a speech in which he said: “O people, you will be gathered to Allah barefoot, naked and uncircumcised.” Then he said: “As We began the first creation, We will repeat it…” [al-Anbiya’ 21:104]. Then he said: “The first of creation to be clothed will be Ibraaheem. Then some men of my ummah will be brought and taken to the left, and I will say: ‘O Lord, my companions!’ It will be said: You do not know what they introduced after you were gone. And I will say as the righteous slave (‘Eesa) said: ‘I said not to them except what You commanded me – to worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness. ’ [al-Maa’idah 5:117]. Then it will be said: ‘They kept turning on their heels since you left them.’”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (4625) and Muslim (2860).

And Allah knows best.