Example Nine:
Hadith no. 76, p. 126
Al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah, no. 621
“The Prophets—may Allah’s blessings be upon them—are alive in their graves, praying.”

The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—said:
“For a period of time I regarded this ḥadith as weak because I believed, following al-Bayhaqī, that it was solely narrated by Ibn Qutaybah. I had not yet seen it in Musnad Abī Yaʿlā or in Akhbār Iṣbahān. Once I examined its chain of transmission in those two works, it became evident to me that the isnād is strong and that the alleged singularity is incorrect. Consequently, I hastened to cite it in this book to clear my conscience and to discharge the academic trust—even though doing so might give some ignorant or malicious person an opening to criticize, sneer, or slander. I am unmoved by that, so long as I am fulfilling my religious duty in the hope of its reward from Allah alone.”