Falseness of the hadeeth about Adam praying by virtue of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon them both)

 

I read this hadeeth and I would like to know whether it is saheeh or not. 


“When Adam committed his sin, he said, ‘O Lord, I ask You by virtue of Muhammad to forgive me.’ Allaah said, ‘O Adam, how do you know of Muhammad when I have not yet created him?’ He said, ‘O Lord, when You created me with Your own hand, and breathed into me the soul that You created, I raised my head and saw written on the pillars of the Throne, Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Muhammad Rasool Allaah [There is no god but Allaah, Muhammadi s the messenger of Allaah]. Then I knew that You would not mention in conjunction with Your name any but the most beloved of Your creation to You.’ Allaah said, ‘You have spoken the truth, O Adam. He is indeed the most beloved of My creation to Me. Pray to me by virtue of Him, for I have forgiven you. Were it not for Muhammad, I would not have created you.’”.

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

This hadeeth is mawdoo’ (fabricated).
It was narrated by al-Haakim via ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Muslim al-Fahri (who said), Ismaa’eel ibn Muslimah narrated to us, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn
Aslam told us, from his father, from his grandfather, from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him), that he said: The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “When Adam committed his sin…” Then he quoted the hadeeth as the questioner quoted
it. 

Al-Haakim said: The isnaad of this hadeeth is
saheeh. 

This is what al-Haakim said! But a number of
scholars rebuked him and denounced him for classing this hadeeth as saheeh. They ruled that this hadeeth is false and fabricated, and they pointed
out that al-Haakim contradicted himself when commenting on this hadeeth. 

There follow some of their comments: 

Al-Dhahabi said, criticizing the words of
al-Haakim quoted above: 

Rather it is mawdoo’ (fabricated), and ‘Abd
al-Rahmaan is not reliable, and I do not know who ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Muslim al-Fahri is. 

Al-Dhahabi also said in Meezaan
al-I’tidaal: It is a false report. 

Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar agreed with him in
Lisaan al-Meezaan. 

Al-Bayhaqi said:  

‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn Aslam is the
only one who narrated it with this isnaad, and he is da’eef (weak). Ibn Katheer agreed with him in al-Bidaayah wa’l-Nihayyah, 2/323. 

Al-Albaani said in al-Silsilah al-Da’eefah,
25: (it is) mawdoo’. 

Al-Haakim himself (may Allaah forgive him) accused ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd of being a
fabricator of hadeeth, so how could his hadeeth be saheeh? 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in
al-Qaa’idah al-Jaleelah fi’l-Tawassul wa’l-Waseelah (p. 69): 

Al-Haakim’s narration of this hadeeth is
something for which he was denounced, and he himself said in his book al-Madkhil ila Ma’rifat al-Saheeh ‘an al-Saqeem:  

‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn Aslam narrated fabricated ahaadeeth from his father, and it is
obvious to any competent hadeeth scholar that he is the one to blame for fabricating ahaadeeth. I say: ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn Aslam is
da’eef (weak) because he made a lot of mistakes.

 See Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth al-Da’eefah
by al-Albaani, 1/38-47.