Classification: Munkar (Very Weak)

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْوَهَّابِ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ نُمَيْرٍ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنِ الْفَضْلِ، عَنْ سَعِيدٍ الْمَقْبُرِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ – صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: “الْكَلِمَةُ الْحِكْمَةُ ضَالَّةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ، حَيْثُمَا وَجَدَهَا، فَهُوَ أَحَقُّ بِهَا 

“Abu Hurairah said, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said. ‘A wise statement is the lost property of the believer, so wherever he finds it, he is more worthy of it.’”

This Hadith is in Ibn Majah, Hadith number 4169. It is also in Tirmidhi, Hadith number 2687.

Shaykh Shuayb Arnawut said in his footnote in Ibn Majah that the narration is very weak due to one of the narrators, Ibrahim ibn al-Fadl being Matrook (very weak). This narrator is also found in the chain of Imam al-Tirmidhi’s narration.

Imam Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani discusses Ibrahim ibn al-Fadl  in his book Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb (volume 1 page 151), where he quotes many Imams of hadith saying he is very weak:

قال أحمد: “ضعيف الحديث ليس بقوي في الحديث”, وقال ابن معين: “ليس حديثه بشيء”, وقال أبو زرعة: “ضعيف”, وقال أبو حاتم: “ضعيف الحديث منكر الحديث”, وقال البخاري: “منكر الحديث”. وقال الترمذي: “يضعف في الحديث”, وقال النسائي: “منكر الحديث”

“Ahmed said, ‘Weak, his hadith and not strong.’ Ibn Ma’een said, ‘His narrations have no value.’ Abu Dhur’a  said, ‘Weak,’ Abu Hatim said, ‘ Weak, Munkar of hadith (very weak).’ Al-Bukhari said, ‘Munkar of hadith.’ Al-Tirmidhi said, ‘Weak in  narration.’ Al-Nasai said, ‘Munkar of Hadith.’”

– Answered by Shaykh Noorud-deen (05.01.2021)