“…I heard some shaykhs say that when a person removes a speck of dirt from the mosque or an obstruction from the Muslims’ path, he ought to say at the moment he lifts it, ‘lā ilāha illā Allāh,’ so that he may unite the lowest branch of faith—that is, removing harm—with its highest, the word of monotheism; thus deed and word come together, and if heart and tongue are joined the act is all the more perfect.” End quote.
Yet it is clear that every legal ruling requires textual proof, and his statement “he ought to” is itself a legal judgement. (So in Nayl al-Awṭār, 2/128.)
Because of this, when the black woman who used to sweep the mosque and collect scraps of cloth and sticks from it died, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked about her a few days later. They said, “She has passed away.” He replied, “Why did you not inform me?” They answered, “It happened at night.” It was as though they considered her unimportant, so he said, “Show me her grave.” He then went to the grave and offered the funeral prayer for her.
This ḥadith is narrated from Abū Hurayrah , and from him it has two routes:
- Ḥammād ibn Zayd → Thābit → Abū Rāfiʿ → Abū Hurayrah.
It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (1/438–439, 440; 3/159), Muslim (3/56), Ibn Mājah (1/465), al-Ṭayālisī (321, no. 2446), and Aḥmad (2/353, 388), each adding detail to the others.
Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzāz Ṣāliḥ ibn Rustum also followed Thābit in the version reported by al-Ṭayālisī, pairing him with Ḥammād ibn Zayd.
All of them reported the wording, “a black man or a woman,” expressing hesitation—except for Ibn Mājah, who stated definitively, “a black woman.”