Status of Hadeeth: “O ‘Ali, do not sleep until you do five things”
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “ O ‘Ali, do not go to sleep until you have done five things, which are: reading the entire Quran, giving 4,000 dirhams in charity, visiting the Ka’bah, protecting your place in Paradise, and pleasing your opponent.” ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: How can I do that, O Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “ Do you not know that if you recite Surah al-Ikhlas (Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad) three times, then you will have recited the entire Quran; and if you recite al-Fatihah four times, then you will have given 4,000 dirhams in charity; and if you say La ilaha ill-Allah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahu’l-mulk wa lahu’l-hamd yuhyi wa yumeet wa huwa ‘ala kulli shay’in qadeer (there is no God but Allah alone, with no partner or associate, His is the Dominion and to Him be praise, He gives life and gives death, and He has power over all things) 10 times, then you will have visited the Ka’bah; and if you say: La hawla wa la quwwata illa Billah il-‘Aliy il-‘Azeem (there is no power and strength except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great) 10 times, then you will have protected your place in Paradise; and if you say Astaghfir-Allah al-‘Azeem alladhi la ilaha illa huwa al-Hayy al-Qayyoom wa atoobu ilayh (I seek forgiveness from Allah, the Almighty, besides Whom there is no god, the Ever Living, the Self Sustaining) ten times, then you will have pleased your opponent?”
This hadeeth is not narrated in any of the reliable books of hadeeth; rather it is a fabricated hadeeth which is falsely attributed to the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) stated that the advice that is attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and that he allegedly gave to ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and everything that is supposedly addressed by the Messenger to Ali is all fabricated, apart from his words: “O Ali, you are to me like Haroon was to Moosa, but there is no Prophet after me.” Among those who have stated this are: Shaykh Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari in al-Asrar al-Marfoo’ah fi’l-Akhbar al-Mawdoo’ah, which is also known as al-Mawdoo’at al-Kubra; Shaykh Isma’eel al-‘Ajlooni in his book Kashf al-Khafa’ wa Muzeel al-Ilbas. Hence I warn my Muslim brothers against being deceived by this hadeeth and similar fabricated reports, or working to print them or publish them among the Muslims, because this is misguiding the masses and deceiving them, and telling lies about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), concerning which a stern warning is issued to the one who does so deliberately, as he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in this saheeh (authentic) hadeeth: “Telling a lie about me is not like telling a lie about anyone else. Whoever tells a lie about me deliberately, let him take his place in Hell.” And he said: “Whoever narrates from me a saying knowing that it is false, then he is one of the liars.”
In the saheeh reports from the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that are compiled in the reliable books of hadeeth, the Saheehs, Sunans and Musnads, there is sufficient material for the one whom Allah guides to goodness, and there is no need to resort to the reports of liars and fabricators. I ask Allah to enable us all to acquire beneficial knowledge and do righteous deeds, and to keep us all away from the path of misguidance and deviation, for He is All Hearing, Ever Near.
And Allah knows best.
Wister