But the fact that these four all narrated it from Ziyad indicates that the hadith is authentic, for their truthfulness is not impugned, and none of them was known to appropriate hadiths falsely. It is therefore ordinarily unlikely that they would concur in an error. Allah knows best.
The first part of the hadith was recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahih collections, as well as by Ahmad, al-Tabarani, and others, through several chains from Jarir. I have previously cited it in The Problem of Poverty (108).
The second part is supported by the preceding hadith.
- “As for your father, had he affirmed Allah’s oneness, then your fasting and giving charity on his behalf would benefit him.”
Imam Ahmad recorded it (2/182): Hushaym narrated to us; Hajjaj informed us; ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather:
“Al-‘As ibn Wa’il vowed in the pre-Islamic era that he would slaughter one hundred sacrificial camels. Hisham ibn al-‘As slaughtered his share of fifty camels, and ‘Amr asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, about this.” He said, and then mentioned the above.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy, notwithstanding the well-known disagreement concerning ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb’s transmission from his father, from his grandfather. Both Hushaym and Hajjaj practised concealment in transmission, but they explicitly used a direct transmission formula, thus removing any concern over their concealment.
From this, you may see that al-Haythami’s statement in Majma‘ al-Zawa’id (4/192):
“Ahmad narrated it, and its chain includes Hajjaj ibn Artah, who practised concealment in transmission,”
is imprecise, for it gives the impression that he transmitted it using an ambiguous “from” formula, whereas this is not so, as you can see.
The hadith is clear evidence that charity and fasting benefit one’s father—and likewise one’s mother—after their death, provided that they were Muslims; their reward reaches them even without a bequest from them. Since a child is part of