Al-Tirmidhi also records: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered the mosque, he would invoke blessings and peace upon Muhammad and say, ‘My Lord, forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of Your mercy.’ When he left, he would again invoke blessings and peace upon Muhammad and say, ‘My Lord, forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of Your bounty.’” Shaykh al-Albani declared it authentic in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Tirmidhi 259.
In al-Thamar al-Mustatab (p. 604) the Shaykh writes: “He ﷺ used to say: ‘In the name of Allah. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon Muhammad. O Allah, open for me the gates of Your mercy.’”
This wording is found in several narrations:
- From Anas who said: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered the mosque he would say: ‘In the name of Allah, O Allah, bless Muhammad,’ and when he left he would say: ‘In the name of Allah, O Allah, bless Muhammad.’” Ibn al-Sunnī related it in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah (p. 31, no. 86) through the chain: al-Hasan ibn Mūsā al-Rasʿanī → Ibrāhīm ibn al-Haitham al-Baladī → Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Baḥtharī—a righteous Baghdadi shaykh—→ ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus → Maʿmar → al-Zuhrī → Anas. This isnād is good, or at least capable of being upgraded.
In Hidāyat al-Ruwāt (no. 698) the Shaykh remarks: “It has another defect: it is transmitted by Layth ibn Abī Sulaym, who is weak. Nonetheless, al-Tirmidhi said, ‘a ḥasan ḥadīth,’ and that is correct; but certain phrases in it are not sound. Refer to my notes on al-Kalimat al-Ṭayyib, pp. 63-64, and Tamām al-Minna, p. 290. Mentioning the basmalah is munkar; the explanation is in al-Ḍaʿīfah, no. 6953.” The ḥadīth is also in al-Mishkāt, no. 731.
Summary: the narration is authentic except for the sentences that ask for forgiveness and contain the basmalah; those should be excised.
Note as well that in Ibn Mājah, no. 771, in the edition reviewed by Shaykh Mashhūr al-Salman—may Allah preserve him—the ḥadīth is still graded “ṣaḥīḥ” and still includes the clauses about forgiveness and the basmalah. Anyone owning that edition should likewise correct it.
Allah knows best.
This is a ḥadīth whose grading the Shaykh revised from ḥasan to weak.
(6) ʿAṭiyyah al-Saʿdī narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A servant does not reach the rank of the God-fearing until he leaves what is harmless for fear of what is harmful.” Related by al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Mājah; it appears in al-Mishkāt, no. 2775, where the Shaykh had called it “ḥasan.”
In Hidāyat al-Ruwāt (no. 2706), after al-Tirmidhi’s judgement “ḥasan gharīb,” the Shaykh comments: “I say: not so! It seems I was taken in by that in the previous printing and thus graded it ḥasan; that was a slip on my part—may Allah pardon me—for the chain contains a weak narrator who has not been declared reliable. Details are in Ghāyat al-Marām, no. 178.” See also Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif ed.) no. 1081, Ibn Mājah 4215, and al-Tirmidhi 2451.
This is a ḥadīth the Shaykh first judged weak, then ḥasan, then finally Ṣaḥīḥ; the clarification follows.
(7) The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The molar tooth of the disbeliever on the Day of Resurrection will be like Mount Uhud, his thigh like al-Bayḍāʾ, and his seat in the Fire the distance of three [days’ journey] like al-Rabadha.” Reported by al-Tirmidhi 2580.
Al-Albani weakened it in al-Mishkāt (no. 5674), then wrote in Hidāyat al-Ruwāt (no. 5602): “I initially said its isnād is weak, then I reconsidered and declared it ḥasan, for Ṣāliḥ—Mawlā al-Tuʾāmah—is coupled with Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār and Ibn Ḥibbān deemed him reliable. Indeed, the ḥadīth is authentic; it has other chains which I documented in al-Ṣaḥīḥah, no. 1105.” See also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb, no. 3682.
This is a ḥadīth the Shaykh first authenticated, then declared weak.
(8) From Anas that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The most merciful of my community toward my community is Abū Bakr; the firmest of them in Allah’s religion is ʿUmar; the most modest of them is ʿUthmān; the best judge among them is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; the most versed in the Book of Allah is Ubayy ibn Kaʿb; the most knowledgeable regarding the lawful and unlawful is Muʿādh ibn Jabal; the most learned in the laws of inheritance is Zayd ibn Thābit. Every nation has a trustworthy guardian, and the guardian of this nation is Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrah.” Ibn Mājah 154.
Shaykh Mashhūr al-Salman—may Allah protect him—writes in his commentary on the ḥadīth in the edition he prepared (Dār al-Maʿārif): “What is correct is that it is mursal, except for the mention of Abū ʿUbaydah. This was stated by al-Ḥākim in al-Maʿrifah, al-Khaṭīb in al-Faṣl li-l-Waṣl, and others. I gathered their statements and read them to our teacher al-Albani—may Allah have mercy on him—in his office. He approved my conclusion; this came after his earlier authentication, and he wrote in his own hand a note weakening it on the margin of volume three of al-Ṣaḥīḥah.”
The report is no. 1224 in al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah. See also al-Tirmidhi 3790, 3791; al-Mishkāt 6111; Hidāyat al-Ruwāt 6065; and Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān 1863/2218.
This is a ḥadīth the Shaykh first deemed weak, then upgraded to ḥasan li-ghayrihi.
(9) “When the Prophet ﷺ experienced worry, he would grasp his beard.” Al-Ḍaʿīfah 707.