1315 – Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) declared, “No khabb (treacherous deceiver), no miser, and no person of evil malakah (one who treats those under his authority harshly) shall enter Paradise.” Al-Tirmidhī recorded the report, splitting it into two separate ḥadiths, and its chain of transmission is weak. (1)
Grade of the ḥadith
The ḥadith is weak.
The author states: It was collected by al-Tirmidhī, who graded it “ḥasan gharīb,” yet its isnād is weak because it contains Ṣadaqah ibn Mūsā; al-Dhahabī ruled him weak. The narration, however, has many corroborating reports, for it was also transmitted by Aḥmad, Abū Yaʿlā and others. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī, al-ʿIrāqī and al-Dhahabī all judged it weak.
Glossary of terms
• khabb: The verb khaba–yakhubbu khabban means to act deceitfully, cheating and tricking. Hence khabb—with an open khāʾ and a doubled bāʾ—refers to a swindler or fraudster.
• malakah: With an open mīm and lām. One says, malakahu yamlikuhu malkan wa-malakatan—he took possession of him, able to dispose of him at will. Thus it is said: “So-and-so is ḥasan al-malakah (kind in his ownership)” or “sayyiʾ al-malakah (harsh in his ownership).” Al-Muḥīṭ explains that, for scholars, malakah is a firmly rooted disposition in the soul: when a quality is fleeting it is called a ḥālah, but when repeated until it becomes entrenched it is termed a malakah, i.e., a character trait.
Points derived from the ḥadith
- The narration contains three repugnant characteristics whose practitioner is deprived of