2 of 2 · c. 6 AH · after the death of his mother · Madinah
Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah رضي الله عنه
A Garden for His Mother
Sa'd's mother died while he was away from Madinah. When he returned, he came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked whether it would benefit her if he gave charity on her behalf. The Prophet ﷺ said that it would.
Sa'd said, "Then I make you witness that my orchard of al-Mikhraf is given in charity for her." He gave the whole orchard, a valuable garden, in her name, in a single sentence.
Scholars have taken this hadith as a basis for the view that the reward of charity reaches a deceased parent, and it became a model for the Muslim practice of giving on behalf of the dead.
A believer's love for his parents does not end with their lives; it can still be expressed in giving.
Whom could you give on behalf of today, someone who can no longer ask?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2756 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2762 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1004 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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