A fabricated hadeeth about the reward for charity given on behalf of the deceased being presented to him on a platter of light

Question

Praise be to Allah.

This hadeeth is fabricated. It
was narrated by at-Tabaraani in al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat (6504): Muhammad
ibn Dawood ibn Aslam as-Sadafi told us, ‘Ubaydullah ibn ‘Abdillah al-Munkadiri
told us, Muhammad ibn Ismaa‘eel ibn Abi Fudayk said: I heard Abu Muhammad
ash-Shaami narrate that he heard Abu Hurayrah say that he heard Anas ibn
Maalik say: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) say: “There is no household of whom one person dies and they give
charity on his behalf after his death, but Jibreel (peace be upon him) will
present it to him on a platter of light. He will stand at the edge of the
grave and say: ‘O occupant of the deep grave, this is a gift given to you by
your family, so accept it.’ Then he will enter upon him, and he will rejoice
thereat and be of good cheer, and his neighbours who were not given anything
will be sad.”

At-Tabaraani said after quoting
it: This hadeeth was not narrated from Anas except via this isnaad, which
was narrated only by Ibn Abi Fudayk.

Al-Haythami (may Allah have
mercy on him) said:

It was narrated by at-Tabaraani
in al-Awsat; its isnaad includes Abu Muhammad ash-Shaami, of whom al-Azdi
said: He is a liar.

End quote from Majma‘
az-Zawaa’id, 3/139

Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah
have mercy on him) mentioned it in as-Silsilah ad-Da‘eefah (486) and
said: It is fabricated … The problem with this hadeeth is that it is
narrated by Abu Muhammad ash-Shaami. Adh-Dhahabi said: He narrated odd
hadeeths from some of the Taabi‘een. Al-Azdi said: He is a liar.

This is how it appears in
al-Lisaan; it is as if what they meant by munkar hadeeth was this
report. End quote.

So it is not permissible to
attribute these words to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) or to narrate it from him except for the purpose of explaining its
status and to warn against narrating it, because the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever narrates a hadeeth from me
thinking that it is a lie is one of the liars.” Narrated by Muslim in the
Introduction to his Saheeh (1/7).

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy
on him) said:

This hadeeth contains a stern
warning against lying and indicates that whoever thinks it most likely that
what he is narrating is false but still narrates it is a liar. How can he
not be a liar when he is telling you of something that did not happen? End
quote.

In the same chapter there is
another hadeeth which says: “The dead person in his grave is like the
drowning person who calls for help, hoping for a supplication to reach him
from his father or mother or brother or friend, and when it reaches him it
will be dearer to him than this world and everything in it. Allah will cause
to reach the inhabitants of the graves gifts like mountains as a result of
the supplication of the inhabitant of houses (i.e., the living). And the
gift of the living to the dead is prayers for forgiveness.”

This was quoted by Shaykh al-Albaani
in as-Silsilah ad-Da‘eefah (799). He said: (It is) munkar jiddan
(very odd). End quote.

With regard to the hadeeth
which says: “When you offer supplication for the dead, the angel enters upon
him with a platter of light…”, we could not find any such report from the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) whether this version or
the first version. So it is not permissible to attribute that to the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) just as it is not permissible to
quote it, even if it is not attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him), because the matter of al-barzakh is one of the
matters of the unseen, and it is not permissible to indulge in talking about
it without knowledge.

And Allah knows best.