Authenticity of hadith about virtues of night prayer
3-1-2018 | IslamWeb
Question:
Dear Sir. Thankyou for your help with regards to hadiths. May I know whether the following hadith is authentic? Salman Al-Faarisi quoted the Prophet, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, as having said: “Observe the night prayer; it was the practice of the righteous before you, and it brings you closer to your Lord, and it is penance for evil deeds and erases the sins and repels disease from the body.” [At-Tabaraani] Yours sincerely.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The hadith in reference is authentic in general; however, the wording which you mentioned with the chain of narrators cited by At-Tabaraani was declared inauthentic by Al-Albaani in his book As-Silsilah Adh-Dhaʻeefah. He underlined two ʻIllahs (hidden, subtle defects) in this version of the hadith:
First, one of its narrators was Abu Al-ʻAlaa’, who was declared a Majhool reporter (his trustworthiness was not affirmed by Hadith scholars).
Second, scholars held different opinions regarding another reporter in the chain of narration, namely Ibn Abi Al-Joon.
He then added, “It was narrated through a different chain of narration without the part 'and repels disease from the body’, and this version is stronger (in terms of authenticity).”
He also said in Tamaam Al-Minnah, “Yes, the hadith is good (Hasan) or authentic without the last part ‘and repels disease from the body’. It was narrated by At-Tirmithi, Al-Haakim, and others on the authority of Abu Umaamah. Al-Haakim classified it as authentic, and Ath-Thahabi agreed with him in this regard. Al-Baghawi and Al-Haafith Al-ʻIraaqi classified it as Hasan.”
He classified it as authentic and Hasan in several places in his books; and it was cited in Saheeh Al-Jaami’ as authentic hadith no. 4079 and in Al-Irwaa’ as Hasan hadith no. 452.
Allah knows best.