1061 – Abu Hurayrah reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Avert the ḥudūd (prescribed penalties) whenever you can find a way to do so.” Ibn Mājah recorded it with a weak chain (1).
Al-Tirmidhī and al-Ḥākim also transmitted it—from ʿĀʾishah—with the wording: “Ward off the ḥudūd from the Muslims as much as you are able,” and this version is likewise weak (2).
Al-Bayhaqī narrated it as a statement of ʿAlī with the wording: “Deflect the ḥudūd on account of shubuhāt (doubtful matters)” (3).
Status of the report
The ḥadith is weak.
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As for Abu Hurayrah’s version: Ibn Mājah transmitted it through Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl—from Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd—from Abu Hurayrah; Abū Yaʿlā reported it in his Musnad by the same route. Al-Zawāʾid remarks, “This isnād is weak, for Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl al-Makhzūmī was declared weak by Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, al-Bukhārī, and al-Nasāʾī.”
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As for ʿĀʾishah’s version: al-Tirmidhī recorded it, but it includes Yazīd ibn Ziyād, who is considered abandoned.
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As for ʿAlī’s version: al-Bayhaqī said, “Its chain is weak; its defect is Mukhtār al-Tammār.”