Was Adam’s (ﷺ) Repentance Accepted Through the Waseela of Muhammad ﷺ? – The Truth from Quran & Authentic Sources
All praise is due to Allah (Alhamdulillah):
Some people have fabricated such lies and have repeated these fabrications so much, presenting them as truth, that the lie becomes ingrained among people as truth. This is exactly the case with the story of Adam’s (peace be upon him) repentance. So-called people of little knowledge have, through fabricated and false stories, made this thing famous among people as truth: that Adam’s (peace be upon him) repentance was accepted through the waseela (intercession) of Muhammad (ﷺ). However, this statement is a blatant lie and completely contrary to the Quran.
How Adam’s (peace be upon him) repentance was accepted
Sayyiduna Adam and Hawa (peace be upon them) were forbidden by Allah Ta’ala from eating the fruit of one tree in Paradise. Deceived by Satan, they both ate the fruit. Upon this, Allah Ta’ala became displeased with them and expelled them from Paradise. Both were very remorseful for their actions. Allah Ta’ala took pity on them and taught them those words (kalimāt) by reciting which their repentance was accepted.
The Quran itself narrates the details of this story. Observe Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 34 to 37!!
أَعـوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْـطانِ الرَّجيـم
بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ ۖ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
Translation:
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.
وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Translation:
And We said, "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers."
فَاَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيۡطٰنُ عَنۡهَا فَاَخۡرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيۡهِ وَقُلۡنَا اهۡبِطُوۡا بَعۡضُكُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ عَدُوٌّ ۚ وَلَـكُمۡ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ مُسۡتَقَرٌّ وَّمَتَاعٌ اِلٰى حِيۡنٍ(36)
Translation:
But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [state] in which they had been. And We said, “Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time.”
فَتَلَقّٰٓى اٰدَمُ مِنۡ رَّبِّهٖ كَلِمٰتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيۡهِؕ اِنَّهٗ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيۡمُ(37)
Translation:
Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
Then Allah Ta’ala accepted their repentance.
What were these words?
In the tafsir (exegesis) of this verse, Imam Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) writes,
The text of the pardon granted by Allah Ta’ala, the words that Hazrat Adam learned, is itself present in the Quran.
( قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ اَنْفُسَنَا ۫وَاِنْ لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُوْنَنَّ مِنَ الْخٰسِرِيْنَ )
( الاعراف:23 )
Meaning: "They both said: 'Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.'" (Al-A'raf: 23)
Imam Ibn Kathir states that this is the opinion of the majority of scholars.
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
Furthermore, the tafsir of the aforementioned noble verse is proven from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) with a sahih (authentic) chain of narration (sanad) as follows:
﴿فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ﴾ قال : أي رب ! ألم تخلقني بيدك ؟ قال : بلى، قال : أي رب ! ألم تنفخ في من روحك ؟ قال : بلى , قال : أي رب ! ألم تسكني جنتك ؟ قال : بلى، قال : أي رب ! ألم تسبق رحمتك غضبك ؟ قال : بلى، قال : أرأيت إن أنا تبت وأصلحت، أراجعي أنت إلى الجنة ؟ قال : بلى، قال : فهو قوله : ﴿فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ﴾ (سورة البقرة أية 37)
"Adam (peace be upon him) received some words from his Lord, then Allah accepted his repentance." Adam (peace be upon him) asked: "O my Lord! Did You not create me with Your hand?" Allah Ta'ala said: "Yes." He asked: "My Lord! Did You not breathe into me Your spirit?" He said: "Yes." He asked: "O Lord! Did You not settle me in Your Paradise?" He said: "Yes." He asked: "My Lord! Does Your mercy not precede Your wrath?" He said: "Yes." He asked: "If I repent and reform, will You return me to Paradise?" He said: "Yes." ... Then Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "This is the tafsir of this verse." (Al-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahihayn of Al-Hakim: 594/2, H: 4002, and its chain is sahih)
Imam Hakim (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ھذا حديث صحيح الإسناد. “The chain of this hadith is sahih.”
Hafiz Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) also declared this hadith “Sahih.”
This same tafsir of the noble verse has also been narrated by the student of Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them), the famous Tabi’i Imam Ismail bin Abdur-Rahman al-Suddi (d. 127H).
(Al-Tafsir min Sunan Sa’id ibn Mansur: 186, and its chain is sahih)
To abandon this sahih and established tafsir from a Companion of the Prophet (Sahabi) and instead interpret the noble verse using fabricated, false, and weak narrations is tantamount to a conceptual distortion (ma’nawi tahrif) of the Holy Quran.
Meaning, Adam and Hawa (peace be upon them) used Allah’s attributes of forgiveness (maghfirat) and mercy (rahmat) as a wasīla (means), by which their repentance was accepted. This was the statement of the Holy Quran.
However, some people, contrary to this Quranic statement, are seen narrating baseless and contradictory stories from unknown and obscure (majhūl) people and building their creed upon them. In one story, it is said that Adam (peace be upon him) used the waseela of Muhammad (ﷺ) to Allah. In another, it is that he used the waseela of Muhammad (ﷺ) and the Aal (family) of Muhammad. And in another, it is mentioned that he was forgiven for the sake of (tufail) Sayyiduna Ali, Sayyida Fatima, Sayyiduna Hasan, and Sayyiduna Husain (may Allah be pleased with them).
This is ghuluww (excessiveness/exaggeration) in the status of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Ahl al-Bayt (family), which is strictly forbidden.
This is the same thing the Christians (Nasārā) say about Sayyiduna Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him). Their belief is that Adam’s (peace be upon him) mistake was forgiven for the sake of Isa (peace be upon him).
Allamah Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani (d. 548H) quotes the Christians, writing:
والمسيح عليه السلام درجته فوق ذلك، لأنه الإبن الوحيد، فلا نظير له، ولا قياس له إلی غيره من الأنبياء، وھو الذي به غفرت زلة آدم عليه السلام.
“The status and rank of the Messiah (peace be upon him) are far above that because he is the only son. There is no parallel to him, nor can he be compared to other Prophets. It was because of him that Adam’s (peace be upon him) error was forgiven.” (Al-Milal wa al-Nihal: 62/2, and in one version: 524/1)
Many fabricated narrations are presented regarding the waseela of Adam (peace be upon him). Due to brevity, we will present an analysis of one or two famous narrations here.
Analysis of Proof No. 1
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
“When Adam (peace be upon him) committed the error, he raised his head to the sky and pleaded: ‘(O Allah!) I ask You bi-haqqi Muhammad (by the right of Muhammad) to forgive me.’ Allah Ta’ala sent a revelation: ‘Who is Muhammad?’ Sayyiduna Adam pleaded: ‘(O Allah!) Your name is Pure. When You created me, I raised my head towards Your Throne. There I saw Lā ilāha illā Allāh, Muhammadur Rasūlullāh (There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) written. Therefore, I knew that this must be the greatest being, whose name You joined with Your name.’ Then Allah revealed: ‘O Adam! He (Muhammad ﷺ) is the last Prophet from your progeny, and his Ummah (nation) will also be the last nation from your progeny. And if it were not for him, I would not have created you.'”
(Al-Mu’jam al-Saghir of al-Tabarani: 182/2, H: 992, and in one version: 82/2, Al-Mu’jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani: 6502)
Commentary
If this narration were proven, it would indeed be a proof for waseela through the person and personality of righteous people, and waseela through deceased awliyā’ (saints) and the righteous would be completely legitimate. But what can be done, as this is a mawḍūʿ (fabricated) narration.
- (1) In it, the narrator Abdul Rahman bin Zaid bin Aslam is, according to the jumhūr (majority of scholars), “ḍaʿīf (weak) and matrūk (abandoned).”
Hafiz Ibn Mulaqqin (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
قال الذھبي: ضعفه الجمھور. “Allamah Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The majority has declared him weak.” (Al-Badr al-Munir: 449/1)
Hafiz Haythami (may Allah have mercy on him) writes:
والأكثر علي تضعيفه. “The majority holds him to be weak.” (Majma’ al-Zawa’id: 21/2)
Hafiz Ibn Mulaqqin (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ضعفه الجمھور. “The majority has declared him weak.” (Khulasat al-Badr al-Munir: 11/1)
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Imam Ali bin al-Madini, Imam Bukhari, Imam Yahya bin Ma’in, Imam Nasa’i, Imam Daraqutni, Imam Abu Hatim al-Razi, Imam Abu Zur’ah al-Razi, Imam Ibn Sa’d, Imam Ibn Khuzaymah, Imam Tirmidhi, Imam Ibn Hibban, Imam Saji, Imam Tahawi (Hanafi), Imam Jawzajani (may Allah have mercy on them) and others have declared him “ḍaʿīf (weak).”
Imam Bazzar (may Allah have mercy on him) (d. 292H) states:
وعبدالرحمن بن زيد قد أجمع أھل العلم بالنقل علي تضعيف أخباره التي رواھا…
“The scholars of naql (narration) are in unanimous agreement (ijmā’) on the weakness of the reports narrated by Abdul Rahman bin Zaid.” (Musnad al-Bazzar: 8763)
Hafiz Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
أجمعوا على ضعفه. “They (the hadith scholars) are unanimous on his weakness.” (Tahdhib al-Tahdhib of Ibn Hajar: 178, 179/6)
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) (d. 728H) states:
ضعيف باتفاقھم، يغلط كثيرا. “He is weak by their consensus, he makes many mistakes.” (Al-Tawassul wa al-Waseela: 167)
Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) says about him:
عبدالرحمن، متفق على تضعيفه. “Abdul Rahman is agreed upon as being weak.” (Ithaf al-Mahra: 97/12, H: 15163)
Imam Hakim (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
روي عن أبيه أحاديث موضوعة. “He narrated fabricated (mawḍūʿāt) hadiths attributed to his father.”
(Al-Madkhal ila Kitab al-Iklil: 154)
Imam Abu Nu’aym al-Asbahani (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
حدث عن أبيه، لا شيىء. “He narrated from his father. He is ‘nothing’ (i.e., not reliable at all).” (Al-Du’afa’: 122)
Since Abdul Rahman bin Zaid bin Aslam narrated this hadith also from his father, it is therefore also mawḍūʿ (fabricated). - (2) The teacher of Imam Tabarani, Muhammad bin Dawud bin Uthman al-Sadafi al-Masri, requires authentication (tawthīq).
- (3) Its narrator Ahmad bin Sa’id al-Madani al-Fihri also requires authentication.
Analysis of Proof No. 2
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that he asked the noble Messenger (ﷺ) about those supplicatory words that were given to Sayyiduna Adam (peace be upon him) by the Lord Almighty. The Prophet (ﷺ) said:
سأل بحق محمد وعلي و فاطمة والحسن والحسين، إلا تبت علي، فتاب عليه.
“Adam asked by the haqq (right) of Muhammad (ﷺ), Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husain (may Allah be pleased with them), ‘Accept my repentance.’ So, Allah accepted his repentance.”
(Al-Mawdu’at of Ibn al-Jawzi: 398/1, Al-Fawa’id al-Majmu’a fi al-Ahadith al-Mawdu’a of Al-Shawkani, p. 394, 395)
Commentary
This is a mawḍūʿ (fabricated) narration and is a fabrication of the narrator Amr bin Thabit bin Hurmuz Abu Thabit al-Kufi. This narrator is not reliable in any way, as:
- (1) Ali bin Shaqiq says:
سمعت عبدالله بن المبارك، يقول على رؤوس الناس: دعوا حديث عمرو بن ثابت، فإنه كان يسب السلف.
“I heard Imam Abdullah bin Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) saying publicly: ‘Abandon the hadith of Amr bin Thabit, for he used to curse the Salaf (predecessors).'” (Muqaddimah Sahih Muslim, p: 11, Darussalam print) - (2) Imam Yahya bin Ma’in (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ليس بثقة ولا مأمون. “He is not trustworthy (thiqa) nor reliable (ma’mūn).” (Al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil of Ibn Abi Hatim: 223/6, its chain is hasan)
He also called him “ḍaʿīf (weak).” (Tarikh Yahya bin Ma’in: 1624) - (3) Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ليس بالقوي عندھم. “He is not qawī (strong) according to them (the hadith scholars).” (Kitab al-Du’afa’ wa al-Matrukin, p: 87) - (4) Imam Daraqutni (may Allah have mercy on him) also counted him among the weak and abandoned narrators. (Kitab al-Du’afa’ wa al-Matrukin: 401)
- (5) Imam Abu Hatim al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ضعيف الحديث، يكتب حديثه، كان رديىء الرأي، شديد التشيع.
“He is weak in hadith, his hadith may be written (for supporting evidence only). He held bad opinions (radi’ al-ra’y), an extreme Shi’i.” (Al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil of Ibn Abi Hatim: 233/6) - (6) Imam Abu Zur’ah al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
ضعيف الحديث. “He is weak in hadith.” (Al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil: 323/6) - (7) Imam Nasa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) declared him “matrūk al-ḥadīth (abandoned in hadith).” (Kitab al-Du’afa’ wa al-Matrukin: 45)
- (8) Imam Ibn Hibban (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
كان ممن يروي الموضوعات، لا يحل ذكره إلا علي سبيل الاعتبار.
“He was one of those who narrated fabrications (al-mawḍūʿāt). It is not permissible to mention him except by way of (warning).” (Kitab al-Majruhin: 76/2) - (9) Imam Ibn ‘Adi (may Allah have mercy on him) states:
والضعف علي رواياته بين. “The weakness in his narrations is clear.” (Al-Kamil fi Du’afa’ al-Rijal: 132/5)
Conclusion
Both of these false narrations are also against the Holy Quran. See:
(Surah Al-A’raf: 23)
Observe the reality of these narrations and then decide: is it befitting for any Muslim to rely on these fabricated narrations that contradict the Holy Quran?
May Allah Ta’ala grant us the tawfīq (ability) to understand the religion of Islam in its true sense.
Ameen.
(And Allah Ta’ala knows best what is correct.)
Reference: https://alfurqan.info/problems/736
