Two authentic Ahaadeeth about angel Meekaa'eel (Michael)

25-11-2012 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salam alaikum, I have read following on the Internet and would like to know about the status of the two ahadith: "According to hadith, the Prophet (sal Allaahu alayhi wa salam) asked Jibril (alayhi salam), "What is Mika'il in charge of?" He replied, "The plants and the rain." (At-Tabarani) Mika'il has assistants who follow his orders and make the clouds and winds move according to Allah's will. In another hadith, the Prophet (sal Allaahu alayhi wa salam) asked Jibril (alayhi salam), "Why do I never see Mika'il laugh?" He replied, "Mika'il has not laughed since the Fire was created." (Ahmad)". Salam alaikum

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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, is His Slave and Messenger.

As for the first Hadeeth, it is indeed related by At-Tabaraani in Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabeer. Al-Haythami mentioned it in Majma' Az-Zawaa’id and then said: At-Tabaraani narrated it and its Isnaad (chain of narrators) includes Muhammad Ibn Abi Layla. A group of scholars declared him trustworthy, but his memory was poor. The rest of its narrators are trustworthy.

As can be seen, he did not definitively declare him weak. This is like Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar, who said in Fat-h Al-Baari: "In its Isnaad is Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd Ar-Rahmaan Ibn Abi Layla. He was considered weak due to his poor memory, but he was not abandoned." In addition, As-Suyooti considered its Isnaad as Hasan [good] in Ad-Durr Al-Manthoor.

As for the second Hadeeth, it is related by Ahmad in his Musnad and Shaykh Shu‘ayb Al-Arnaa’oot declared it Dha‘eef [weak] while Shaykh Al-Albaani declared it Hasan due to its other routes of narration. This is mentioned in As-Silsilat As-Saheehah and Saheeh Al-Jaami' As-Sagheer.

For more, please see Fatwa 5989.

Allaah Knows best.