Virtues of  Memorizing Forty Hadeeths

1 – This
hadeeth is da’eef (weak). Despite its large number of isnads (chains of
transmission) they do not support one another, and there are many different
versions with different wordings, such as, “…Allah will resurrect him on the
Day of Resurrection among the fuqaha (jurists) and scholars,” and “… Allah
will resurrect him a scholar and a faqeeh (jurist),” and “I will be an
intercessor and a witness for him on the Day of Resurrection,” etc. 

(a)    
al-Hafiz ibn Hajar said: 

It was
narrated by al-Hasan ibn Sufyan in his Musnad and in his Arba’een, from the
hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and he narrated it
from thirteen of the Sahabah/Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). It
was narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-‘Ilal al-Mutanahiyah, and he explained
that all of these hadeeths are da’eef.  Ibn al-Mundhir discussed it in a
separate volume, and I discussed it in the sixteenth chapter of al-Imla. I
mentioned all of its isnads in one volume but there is not one isnad that is
free of faults. 

Al-Talkhees al-Habeer, 3/93,94. 

(b)    Ibn
al-Mulaqqin said: 

The
hadeeth “Whoever preserves forty hadeeth for my ummah (followers) will be
recorded as a faqeeh” was narrated via approximately twenty isnads, all of
which are da’eef (weak). Al-Daraqutni said: All its isnads are da’eef and
none of them are proven. Al-Bayhaqi said: Its isnads are weak. 

Khalasat
al-Badr al-Muneer, 2/145 

Al-Bayhaqi
said: 

This text
is well known among the people but it has no saheeh (authentic) isnad. 

Shu’ab
al-Eeman, 2/270 

Al-Nawawi
said: 

The
scholars of hadeeth are agreed that it is a weak hadeeth, although it has
many narrations. 

Muqaddimat
al-Arba’een al-Nawawiyyah.  

2 – We
should note here that there are reports in the Sunnah which mention the
virtue of listening to the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) and conveying it, even if it is just one hadeeth. 

It was
narrated that Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard
the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, “May
Allah bless a man who hears a hadeeth from us and memorizes it so that he
can convey it to others, for perhaps he is conveying it to one who will
understand it better than him, and perhaps the one who conveys knowledge
does not understand it himself.”

(Narrated
and classed as hasan (sound) by al-Tirmidhi, 2656; also narrated by Abu
Dawood. 3660; Ibn Majah, 230). 

Al-Mubarakfoori said: 

What is
meant is that Allah has singled him out for happiness and joy because of the
knowledge with which He has blessed him and the status among people in this
world and blessings in the Hereafter that he attains thereby, so that the
joy and blessings are seen on his face. And it was suggested that the
hadeeth indicates what happens to the person of joy and blessing that
appears on his face. 

Tuhfat
al-Ahwadhi, 7/347, 348 

And Allah
knows best.