Fabricated Hadith: 'Anyone who dies without knowing the Imam of his time will die the death of one belonging to Jahiliyyah'


Question:

:Anyone who dies without knowing the Imam of his time will die the death of one belonging to Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic time of ignorance).” What is the degree of authenticity of this Hadith?

Answer:

The Hadith in this wording was fabricated by the Shiites and falsely ascribed to the Prophet (peace be upon him).

The Shaykh of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, wrote in his book Minhaj Al-Sunnah: “By Allah, the Messenger (peace be upon him) could not have said it in this wording. In fact the well-known narration was reported by Imam Muslim that Ibn ‘Umar came to ‘Abdullah ibn Muti` when the incident of Al-Harrah took place. He said, ‘Place a pillow for Abu ‘Abdul-Rahman to lean on,’ but ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said to him, ‘I did not come to sit, but to tell you that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: “One who withdraws his hand from obedience (to the Amir) will have no plea (in his defense) when he stands before Allah on the Day of Judgment, and one who dies without having bound himself by an oath of allegiance (to an Amir) will die the death of one belonging to Jahiliyyah.’” 1

May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.

  1. Mukhtasar Al-Minhaj p.30 ↩

  • 1 min read
  • Source(s): Fatawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Da'imah no. 19867-1
  • Mufti(s): Shaykh Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz , Shaykh Abdul-Aziz Aal al-Shaykh , Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghudayyan , Shaykh Salih Fawzan , Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd
  • Tafsir   Hadiths   Mawdu-daif