Praise be to Allah.
Examining the Fabricated Hadiths on Virtues of Surat Al-Muzzammil
What you have read about the virtues of reading Surat Al-Muzzammil is not correct, rather it is a fabricated Hadith and it is not permissible to follow it or take it as evidence.
It was originally narrated from Zirr ibn Hubaysh from Ubayy ibn Ka`b (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited the Quran to me twice during the year in which he died, and said: “Jibril (peace be upon him) told me to recite the Quran to you, and he sends greetings of Salam to you.” Ubayy said: I said when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited to me: “It is as if it was just for me; did you single me out for the reward of Quran because of what Allah told you?” He said: “Yes, O Ubayy. Any Muslim who recites the Opening of the Book (Al-Fatihah) will be given as much reward as if he recited two-thirds of the Quran, and he will be given reward as if he had given charity to every believer, man and woman… and whoever recites Surat Al-Muzzammil will be relieved of hardship in this world and in the Hereafter.”
Scholarly Opinions on the Hadith
Ibn Al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: And he mentioned a reward for every Surah until the end of the Quran… this Hadith about the virtues of the Surahs is undoubtedly fabricated. (End quote from Al-Mawdu`at, 1/391)
Ash-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This was narrated by Al-`Aqili from Ubayy ibn Ka`b in a Marfu` report (i.e., attributed to the Prophet). Ibn Al-Mubarak said: I think that the Zanadiqah fabricated it.
The Hadith has several chains of narrations all of which are false and fabricated… and there is no dispute among the scholars that this Hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka`b is fabricated. A number of Quran commentators were deceived by it and mentioned it in their books of Tafsir such as Ath-Tha`labi, Al-Wahidi and Az-Zamakhshari. No wonder, because they were not versed in this area of knowledge. (End quote from Al-Fawa`id Al-Majmu`ah fi Al-Ahadith Al-Mawdu`ah, p. 264)
The fact that this Hadith is false was mentioned by Ibn `Adi in Al-Kamil (7/2588) and by As-Suyuti in Al-La`ali’ Al-Masnu`ah (1/227) and by Al-Dhahabi in Tartib Al-Mawdu`at, 60, and by others.
Note: Many Hadiths were fabricated about the virtues of various Surahs of the Quran. Their fabricators` intention was to encourage people to read Quran and devote themselves to that, and they claimed that they were doing good thereby.
But their intentions were misguided because that is undoubtedly subject to the stern warning contained in the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “Whoever tells a lie about me deliberately, let him take his place in Hell.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, 10; Muslim, 4) It makes no difference whether the lie is intended for good or for evil.
Mu’ammil ibn Isma`il (d. 206 AH) investigated this Hadith until he found the person who admitted to fabricating it. Mu’ammil said: A Shaykh told me this Hadith and I said to him: Who narrated this to you? He said: A man in Al-Mada`in, who is still alive. So I traveled to go and see him, and I said: Who narrated this to you? He said: A Shaykh in Wasit. So I traveled to go and see him, and I said: Who narrated this to you? He said: A Shaykh in Basrah. So I traveled to go and see him, and I said: Who narrated this to you? He said: A Shaykh in `Abadan. So I traveled to go and see him, and he took me by the hand and led me into a house, where there were some Sufi people and a Shaykh with them, and he said: This is the Shaykh who narrated it to me. I said: O Shaykh, who narrated this to you? He said: No one narrated it to me; rather we saw that the people had turned away from the Qur`an, so we fabricated this Hadith for them, to turn their hearts back to the Quran.
Another example is the Hadith of `Ikrimah from Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) concerning the virtues of the Quran Surah by Surah. Its fabricator, Nuh ibn Abu Maryam, was asked about it and he said: I saw that the people had turned away from the Quran and were preoccupied with the fiqh of Abu Hanifah and the Maghazi of Muhammad ibn Is-haq, so I fabricated these Hadiths for the sake of Allah. (Al-Mawdu`at by Ibn Al-Jawzi, 1/394; Sharh Muqaddimah Ibn As-Salah by Al-`Iraqi, 111)
With regard to Surat Al-Mulk, we have already discussed its virtues in question no 26240.
May Allah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.
For more details, please see the following answers: 6460, 82800, 45839, 222887, 90186, 2241, 71359.
And Allah knows best.
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