There is no hadeeth about a strand of hair that fell in a honey bowl at Faatimah's house

12-12-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Dear Shaykh, assalaamu alaykum. A friend forwarded me this hadith in WhatsApp. Could you please tell me whether this is an authentic hadith or not?
The Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, went to Faatima's house with his Companions Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthmaan. There, they were served honey in a bowl, in which a strand of hair accidentally fell. So the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, asks his Companions to make a comparison relating to the dish, the honey and the strand of hair. Each of the Companions said something about the bowl and the honey, and The Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, did so too. Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, also decended and said something about the bowl and the hair. Then Allaah also said something.
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

We do not know of a hadeeth to this effect; we could not find any mention of such a hadeeth in the Sunnah books or the hadeeth collections, and not even in the books and references especially complied to identify inauthentic ahaadeeth.

The basic principle is that nothing should be attributed to the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) unless its source is investigated, its chain of narration is identified, and the conditions of authenticity are verified. Not all reports attributed to the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) are authentic. The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) warned us about falsely attributing anything to him if we are not certain that it is authentically attributable to him.

Ibn ʻAbbaas may Allaah be pleased with him narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said, "Beware of narrating from me except what I taught you, for whoever lies about me on purpose, then let him take his seat in the Hellfire. And whoever says (something) about the Quran according to his (own) opinion, then let him take his seat in the Hellfire." [Ahmad and At-Tirmithi]

Hence, it is incumbent on the Muslim to be cautious in this regard and to abstain from narrating and circulating any report on WhatsApp or any other medium except after verifying its authenticity so that he would not falsely attribute a lie to the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ).

Allaah knows best.

www.islamweb.net