. J; 1," (cont.)

This information makes the person realize that Allah is truly the Compassionate, the Merciful. The response from the believer should be full devotion and love for his Merciful Creator. About the Narrator: ibn Abbaas Ibn Abbaas was discussed in the commentary to Hadith Number 1 9. 1 Cf., ibn Muhammad, pp. 206-209. 1 105 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi On the authority of ibn Abbaas: On the authority of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) lbn Hajr notes that he knows of no narration in which it is explicitly stated that ibn Abbaas heard this hadith directly from the Prophet (peace be upon him).1 When the Prophet (peace be upon him) died, ibn Abbaas was still quite young. Therefore, many of the hadith that he narrated, he bad actually heard from the older Companions and not directly from the Prophet (peace be upon him). At that time, though, it was not considered necessary to mention the link between the Companion who narrated the hadith, having heard it from another Companion, and the Prophet (peace be upon him). This method of passing on hadith, where the Companion did not mention his source and he did not hear the words directly from the Prophet (peace be upon him), is known as the mursal of the Companions. This is a type of mursal hadith that is universally accepted by the hadith scholars. 2 When a Companion like ibn Abbaas used the term, "On the authority of the Prophet (peace be upon him)," he most likely heard this quote from either the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself or from another Companion. Note that in either case the validity of the hadith will not be affected given the fact that all Companions are considered trustworthy and people of integrity. Therefore, this type of hadith is accepted and is considered valid for proof. In general, the Companions only narrated from other Companions or the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) himself. It is true that some Companions did narrate hadith from Followers on the authority of other Companions. But they usually only narrated sayings of other Companions or Followers or stories of the Tribes of Israel from the Followers. Furthermore, when they related the hadith from the Followers, they many times probably would mention that fact. Plus, the Companions were very careful about accepting reports from narrators who may not be completely trustworthy. lbn Abbaas himself was quoted as saying that they would take hadith only from people they knew. Furthermore, Ibn Hajr stated that he collected the reports of the Companions from the Followers from another Companion and he found none of the Followers that they quoted from to be weak.3 Al-Iraqi stated that there are only twenty known hadith of Companions from Followers from other Companions.4 1 Ibn Hajr, Fath, vol. 1 3, p. 12 l . 2 Abu Ishaq al-Isfraaeeni is one scholar who argued that this type ofhadith should be considered the same as any other mursal hadith but this is generally regarded as a weak opinion. 3 Ibn Hajr, al-Nukat, vol. 2, p. 570. lbn Hajr has compiled a book containing the known hadith wherein a Companion narrated from a Follower. The work is published as Ahmad ibn Hajr, Nuzhat al-Saamieen fl Riwaayah al-Sahaabah an al-Tabieen (al-Thuqbah, Saudi Arabia: Daar al-Hijrah, 1995). 4 Quoted in Khaldoon al-Ahdab, Asbaab lkhtilaaf al-Muhaditheen (Jeddah: al-Daar al-Saudiyah, 1985), vol. I , p. 223. 1 106 Hadith #37: "Allah recorded the Good Deeds . . . " From among the sayings that he related from His Lord (glorified and exalted be He) This is a qudsi hadith. The second in this collection. A discussion of the concept of qudsi hadith may be found in the commentary to Hadith Number 24. Some of the other narrations of this hadith are much more explicit in their quoting hadith of this nature as a narration from Allah. For example, one of the narrations from Abu Huraira states: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Allah has said, 'If My slave considers doing a sin, do not record it against him. If he acts upon it, record it as a sin. If he considers doing a good deed and does not do it, record it as a good deed. And if he actually does it, record it as ten [good deeds]."' (Recorded by Muslim.) If the words found in the hadith quoted by al-Nawawi, "Verily, Allah has recorded the good deeds and the evil deeds," are considered part of this qudsi hadith, then they are understood to mean, "Allah said, 'Verily, Allah has ... "' However, those words could be considered a statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him), describing what Allah has done followed by quoting what Allah has said. 1 "Verily, Allah recorded the good deeds and the evil deeds." Allah recorded and decreed which deeds are deserving of reward and which deeds are deserving of punishment.