Likewise, His words: “Do not exchange the vile for the good” (al-Nisāʾ 4:2).
The same principle appears in the ḥadīth concerning the person in the grave: it will be said to him, “Look at your seat in the Fire; Allah has replaced it with one better—a seat in Paradise,” while to another it will be said, “Look at your seat in Paradise; Allah has replaced it with a seat in the Fire.”
ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—once said to Labīd, “What has become of your poetry?” He replied, “Allah has replaced it for me with Sūrat al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān.” Expressions of this kind are frequent in everyday speech.
Hence the Prophet’s statement, “Allah has replaced those two days with two better ones,” requires that the two not be observed together; all the more so because his words “better than them” indicate that what has been legislated for us is meant to take the place of what existed in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.
(1) Surah al-Nisa, part of verse 2.
(2) Copy A reads: “the graves.”
(3) Several hadiths on this subject appear in the two Sahihs and the Sunan with varying wordings, some lengthy and others concise. See: Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Funerals, chapter “What has been reported concerning the punishment of the grave,” hadith 1374 (Fath al-Bari 3/232); and Sahih Muslim, Book of Paradise, chapter “The deceased’s seat in Paradise or Hell is shown to him,” hadiths 2866 (4/2199) and 2870 (4/2200).
(4) The Companion referred to is Labid ibn Rabiʿah ibn Malik ibn Jaʿfar ibn Kilab al-Amiri, the famed pre-Islamic poet. He accepted Islam with the delegation of his tribe, embraced the faith wholeheartedly, and abandoned poetry thereafter. He died in 41 AH at the age of 140. See Usd al-Ghabah 4/260–261.
(5) Ibn Hajar mentions this report in al-Isabah 3/326, in the biography of Labid, but without an isnad (chain of transmission).
(6) The printed edition reads: “Allah has replaced them for you with something better,” whereas copy A has merely: “He said: ‘He has replaced them for you.’”
(7) Copy B reads: “his statement to them.”