Concerning his statement on the virtue of striving to reach the mosque:
- Ahmad and the two Ṣaḥīḥ compilers relate from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever goes to the mosque in the morning and returns in the evening, Allah will prepare Paradise as his hospitality every time he goes and comes back.”
I say: This is the wording found in Ahmad’s Musnad, 2/509. It seems to me that one of the transmitters of the Musnad abbreviated the report ever so slightly, thereby obscuring its intended meaning, for Muslim’s version reads: “Whoever goes to the mosque in the morning or returns in the evening, Allah will prepare for him, in Paradise, a hospitality every time he goes and comes back.” Ahmad likewise records it verbatim in Kitāb al-Zuhd, p. 3—the very first ḥadith in that work—with the same chain as in the Musnad, and al-Bukhārī’s wording is similar.
It is plain that “Allah will prepare Paradise as hospitality for him” is not the same as “Allah will prepare for him a hospitality in Paradise.” Both phrasings guarantee Paradise to the one who goes and comes, yet the second adds that he will receive dwelling-places therein equal to the number of his comings and goings. Reflect on this.
For this reason, anyone working with the books of Sunnah should rely primarily upon the two Ṣaḥīḥs, for the Muslim community is unanimous regarding their authenticity and has devoted more care to transmitting them than to any other collections.
As for his words: “b) Ahmad, …, al-Tirmidhī—who declared it fair—and al-Ḥākim—who declared it sound—narrated from Abū Saʿīd that the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘When you see a man habitually attending the mosques, bear witness to his faith…,’”
I say: The ḥadith is neither sound nor even ḥasan in its chain, for it comes through Darraj Abū al-Samḥ, from Abū al-Haytham, from Abū Saʿīd. About Darraj, al-Ḥāfiẓ writes in al-Taqrīb: “Trustworthy, yet his ḥadith from Abū al-Haytham is weak.” Hence al-Dhahabī took issue with al-Ḥākim’s grading, saying: