Praise be to Allah.
This hadeeth was narrated by al-Tirmidhi: ‘Abbaas al-Doori al-Baghdaadi told us, Yahya ibn Abi Bukayr told us, Shareek told us, narrating from ‘Aasim who is Ibn Bahdalah, from Abu Saalih from Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who said: “The Fire was stoked for a thousand years until it turned red, then it was stoked for a thousand years until it turned white, then it was stoked for a thousand years until it turned black, and it is intensely black.”
And he said: Suwayd told us, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Mubaarak told us, from Shareek, from ‘Aasim, from Abu Saalih or another man, from Abu Hurayrah, a similar report, but he did not attribute it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Abu ‘Eesa al-Tirmidhi said: the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah concerning this is more likely to be mawqoof (i.e., to have an interruption in the chain of narration); I do not know of anyone who attributed it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) apart from Yahya ibn Abi Bukayr (who narrated it) from Shareek.
Al-Albaani said: This Yahya is thiqah (trustworthy) and is accepted in al-Saheehayn, so it is not possible to criticize him, especially since Shareek, who is the son of ‘Abd-Allaah al-Nakha’i al-Qaadi, who has a bad memory, appears in the isnaad and this is the weak point of hadeeth. This is supported by his confusion; sometimes he attributes it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and sometimes he does not, and sometimes he is definite in his isnaad and says, “from Abu Saalih”, and sometimes he is uncertain and says, “from Abu Saalih or another man.” These are signs that he is imprecise and does not have a good memory. So no wonder the scholars who had knowledge of men’s biographies classed him as da’eef (weak). So the hadeeth is da’eef, whether it is attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or not.
See al-Silsilah al-Da’eefah, 3/470.
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