357 – Jābir ﵁ relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The best of my nation are those who, when they do wrong, seek forgiveness; and when they travel, they shorten the prayer and break the fast.” It was narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsat with a weak chain, and appears—abridged—in the mursal reports of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib recorded by al-Bayhaqī.⦗1⦘
—
Status of the ḥadīth
This ḥadīth is weak. Al-Munāwī, in his commentary on al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, cites al-Haythamī: “It contains Ibn Luhayʿah, who is weak.” Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted it with a weak isnād, and al-Bayhaqī included it in al-Marāsīl.
Glossary
• “They did wrong” (asāʾū): they sinned. Al-Rāghib defines a sayyiʾah as a reprehensible act, the opposite of a good deed.
• “They sought forgiveness” (istaghfarū): istighfār is the verbal request for pardon; divine maghfirah is Allah’s protection of the servant from punishment.
Lessons drawn from the ḥadīth
- The report shows that the best of sinners are the repentant—those who, when they commit a sin, recall Allah’s warning and punishment, then seek His pardon and return to Him with sincere repentance meeting its three conditions: remorse for the sin, immediate abandonment of it, and firm resolve never to repeat it. If the offence involves people’s rights, they must make restitution.
- When they travel, they accept the concessions Allah has granted them: they break the fast during the daylight hours of Ramaḍān—for righteousness is not found in fasting while on a journey—and they shorten the four-unit prayers to