169 – Abu Saʿid al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The whole earth is a place of prostration, except the graveyard and the bathhouse.” Al-Tirmidhi transmitted it, and it has an ʿilla (1).

Grading of the ḥadith:
The ḥadith is ḥasan.
It was also recorded by al-Shāfiʿī (2/20), Aḥmad (11375), Abū Dāwūd (492), al-Tirmidhī (317), Ibn Mājah (745), Ibn Khuzaymah (2/7), Ibn Ḥibbān (4/498) and al-Ḥākim (1/380).

Scholars disagreed over whether its chain is connected or mursal. Ḥammād related it with a continuous chain, whereas al-Thawrī narrated it mursal, and the version of al-Thawrī is sounder and better established. Al-Dāraqutnī said, “The preserved wording is the mursal,” and al-Bayhaqī preferred that view. Ibn Ḥajar quotes in al-Talkhīṣ from the author of “al-Imām” that the point of criticism lies in its being mursal; yet if the narrator who connects the chain is reliable, it is acceptable.

Al-Munāwī wrote in Fayḍ al-Qadīr: “Al-Tirmidhī declared it inconsistent; ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq followed him, and a number of scholars weakened it. Ibn Ḥajar said: ‘It is a muṭṭarib (inconsistent) ḥadith.’”

He added: “Its transmitters are trustworthy, but the dispute concerns whether it is connected or mursal.” Despite this, al-Ḥākim judged it ṣaḥīḥ and al-Dhahabī concurred; Ibn Ḥibbān also authenticated it. Ibn Ḥajar further remarked in al-Talkhīṣ: “It has corroborating reports.”

Ibn Taymiyyah said, “Its chains are good; those who criticised it did not consider all of its routes.” Al-Albānī likewise declared it authentic.