Refutation to the claim that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (the Prophets companion) prostrated at his grave.

The sects who are trying to follow the ways of the Christians (sufis, shi'a etc) try to use the following hadith as proof that prostrating to graves was 'done by the companions of Prophet Muhammad';

عن داود بن أبي صالح ، قال: أقبل مروان يوماً فوجد رجلاً واضعاً وجهه على القبر فأخذ برقبته، وقال: أتدري ما تصنع؟ قال: نعم، فأقبل عليه فإذا هو أبو أيوب الأنصاري رضي الله عنه فقال: جئت رسول الله ولم آتِ الحجر، سمعت رسول الله يقول: «لا تَبْكوا علَى الدّينِ إِذا وَلِيَهُ أَهْلُهُ وَلكِنِ ابْكوا عَلَيْهِ إِذا وَلِيَهُ غَيْرُ أَهْلِهِ».

هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد


Translation: Dawud ibn Salih said: "[The governor of Madina] Marwan one day saw a man placing his face on top of the grave of the Prophet. He said: "Do you know what you are doing?" When he came near him, he realized it was Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. The latter said: "Yes; I came to the Prophet, not to a stone."

[Musnad Ahmed Bin Hanbal 5:466, Imam Hakim in his Al-Mustadrak 4:520, Hadith # 8571, Where he declared it “SAHIH” and Imam Dahahbi also agreed with him (i.e. It is Sahih)]

Response given by Ayman bin khaled:

a. al-Hakim (رحمه الله) did not say this Hadeeth is Saheeh!. Rather he said its chain is Sahih and there is a big difference between each statement as known in science of hadeeth. The former means the narration is authentic whereas the latter does not necessirely mean the narrtion is authentic.

b. al-Dhahabi never agreed with al-Hakim on such statement. How would he agree on such classification when he himself stated that Dawd bin Saleh, who exists in the chain, is unknown narrator [refer to al-Mizaan of al-Dhahabi: 3/14 and Tahdheeb al-Tahdheen of al-Hafith: 3/188].

c. The chain also includes Katheer bin Zaid who is disputed over i.e. Abu Zar'a said he is Sadooq with some leen while al-Nasaie said he is weak.

d. Dawd bin Saleh narrates this story from a man called Marwaan and he is also unknown

Based on this, the chain is obviously weak and no scholar would ever say its chain is Sahih unless he relies on the work of al-hakim, which is incorrect in this one, without anticipating it.

With regards the Matn of the narrtion, then it is obvious that it has some obvious oddness that prove its incorrectness, as can be noted. The narration indicate that the grave is in public and seen by whoever pass by while, as a matter of fact, we all know that the grave of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is actually located in the room of Aisha (رضي الله عنها). In addition, it is known that the Salaf including Imam Malik who was an observer to acts of people of Madina and Imam Ahmad who was in the region of Hijaaz or the Shafie who was in Mecca disliked and disapproved touching the grave and said that people of knowledge never done it, which proves that such narrtion is too weak and no one ever acted upon.

In summery, The chain is very weak and so is its text also. So, no one should quote such narrations or dig through narrations that never been acted upon by scholars. Thus whatever you concluded based on such narration is rejected and cannot be accepted or even considered.

I would have commented on the odd point of what makes a Sojood as you have mentioned, if I had time. However, please note that such topics should not be presented by laypeople and it would have better for you to abstain from being involved in such topics as you do not have enough knowledge and obviously you just copy and paste articles or others views, which makes you a Muqallid, therefore it does not make sense to defend what you have did Taqleed with unless you want to verify what you are upon.

In the end, I would like to remind you that whatever I said here is not addressing you as aperson, as I do not even know you, but all my words are addressing and assesting your assertion based on the principles of this religion. That said, I do agree with what you said that Sojood has two types and ruling differ on each one (one is haram if done with the intent of respect, and the other is shirk if done with the intent of worship.)

http://ahlalhdeeth.com/vbe/showpost.php?p=47312&postcount=8