How will the father of Prophet Muhammad be judged?

A well-known hadith in Sahih Muslim states that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire.”

At first sight, the meaning appears clear. Yet this narration became the subject of detailed discussion among later scholars, especially Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, who questioned whether this particular wording was the strongest version of the report. The discussion is important because it shows how classical scholars dealt with apparently difficult hadith: by comparing chains of transmission, examining different wordings and distinguishing between what is firmly established and what may be open to interpretation.

The hadith in Sahih Muslim

Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

عن أنس بن مالك رضي الله عنه:

أن رجلا قال: يا رسول الله، أين أبي؟ قال ﷺ: «في النار». فلما قفى دعاه فقال: «إن أبي وأباك في النار».

A man asked:

“O Messenger of Allah, where is my father?”

The Prophet ﷺ replied:

“In the Fire.”

When the man turned to leave, the Prophet ﷺ called him back and said:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire.”

The narration is found in Sahih Muslim, in the Book of Faith, under the chapter concerning those who die upon disbelief. It is narrated through Hammad ibn Salamah, from Thabit, from Anas ibn Malik. The wording is therefore undeniably present in Sahih Muslim. The question raised by al-Suyuti was not whether Muslim had narrated it, but whether this exact wording should be regarded as the strongest version of the incident.

Al-Suyuti’s first approach: comparing different narrations

In Masalik al-Hunafa fi Waliday al-Mustafa, Imam al-Suyuti points out that the words:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire”

were not transmitted in every version of the report. He notes that Hammad ibn Salamah narrated the incident from Thabit with this explicit wording. However, Ma’mar also narrated from Thabit, but without mentioning the Prophet’s ﷺ father. In that version, the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Whenever you pass by the grave of a disbeliever, give him the tidings of the Fire.”

This wording makes no explicit statement about the father of the Prophet ﷺ, and for al-Suyuti that difference was significant. He argued that the version transmitted by Ma’mar should be preferred from the perspective of transmission. His argument was therefore not simply an attempt to avoid an uncomfortable meaning. He was comparing two versions of the same report and asking which wording was more securely preserved.

The narration of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas

Al-Suyuti also refers to another narration from Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him). In this report, a Bedouin asked the Prophet ﷺ about his father and was told that he was in the Fire. The man then asked:

“Where is your father?”

The Prophet ﷺ replied:

“Whenever you pass by the grave of a disbeliever, give him the tidings of the Fire.”

Again, the Prophet ﷺ does not explicitly say in this version:

“My father is in the Fire.”

Al-Suyuti regarded this narration as further support for the wording transmitted through Ma’mar. He therefore preferred the version which speaks generally about the grave of a disbeliever over the version which explicitly mentions the Prophet’s ﷺ father.

Al-Suyuti did not reject the whole incident

This is an important distinction. Al-Suyuti did not deny that the incident occurred, nor did he claim that the narration in Sahih Muslim had been fabricated. Rather, he challenged one particular wording within one route of transmission.

His argument can therefore be summarised as follows: the incident itself is established, but one route says:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire.”

while other narrations give a different response:

“Whenever you pass by the grave of a disbeliever, give him the tidings of the Fire.”

Al-Suyuti preferred the latter wording.

His second approach: what can the word “father” mean?

Al-Suyuti also offered a second answer. He said that even if the wording in Sahih Muslim is accepted exactly as it stands, the Arabic word ab, meaning “father”, can sometimes be used in a wider sense. It may refer to a forefather or senior paternal relative, rather than only to one’s immediate biological father.

The Quran itself uses the word in this broader way. Allah says:

قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا

“They said, ‘We will worship your God and the God of your fathers: Ibrahim, Ismail and Ishaq – one God.’”

(Surah al-Baqarah, 2:133)

Ismail (peace be upon him) was not the direct father of Ya’qub (peace be upon him). He was the brother of his grandfather Ishaq (peace be upon him). Yet the Quran includes him among the aba, the “fathers” or forefathers. On this basis, al-Suyuti suggested that the words “my father” could potentially be understood in a broader family sense.

This interpretation is not the most obvious meaning

This second argument needs an important qualification. In ordinary Arabic, when someone says “my father”, the immediate meaning is normally the person’s actual father. Al-Suyuti’s explanation is therefore a possible linguistic interpretation rather than the most apparent reading of the hadith. His stronger argument was his first one: that another transmitted wording should be preferred.

Other scholars understood the hadith literally

Not all scholars accepted al-Suyuti’s approach. The explicit wording:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire”

is found in Sahih Muslim through recognised narrators, and major scholars therefore accepted the narration according to its apparent meaning.

Imam al-Nawawi, in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, understood the word “father” in its ordinary sense. He explained that when the Prophet ﷺ called the man back, he was consoling him by showing that the painful ruling was not unique to his family. Al-Nawawi therefore did not adopt the later interpretation advanced by al-Suyuti.

This is important because it shows that there was genuine scholarly disagreement. It would be inaccurate to say that the wording in Sahih Muslim was simply rejected by the scholars, but it would also be inaccurate to suggest that no recognised scholar questioned whether this particular wording should be preferred over other narrations. Al-Suyuti clearly did.

The wider issue of ahl al-fatrah

This discussion is also connected to a wider theological question: what is the ruling concerning people who lived during a period when the message of a prophet had not reached them clearly?

Allah says:

وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا

“We do not punish until We have sent a messenger.”

(Surah al-Isra, 17:15)

Classical scholars discussed those who lived between prophetic missions under the heading of ahl al-fatrah. The parents of the Prophet ﷺ died before his prophethood, and their status therefore became linked, in later scholarly discussions, with broader questions about whether previous revelation had reached them clearly and whether religious responsibility had been fully established against them.

Different scholars approached this question differently. Some, including Imam al-Nawawi, held that the message of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) remained sufficiently known among the Arabs for responsibility to have been established, while others gave different answers concerning the people of the period before the Prophet ﷺ. This wider discussion is one reason why the subject cannot be reduced to a single isolated quotation.

What exactly was al-Suyuti’s position?

A careful summary of his view is therefore as follows. Al-Suyuti acknowledged the wording found in Sahih Muslim and did not deny the incident. He argued that the explicit phrase:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire”

was not transmitted in every version of the report. He preferred another authentic wording which says:

“Whenever you pass by the grave of a disbeliever, give him the tidings of the Fire.”

He supported this preference with another narration from Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas. And if the wording in Muslim was still accepted, he suggested that “my father” could potentially refer to a forefather or paternal relative. His approach therefore operated on two levels: first, preference between different transmitted wordings, and second, interpretation of the wording if it is retained.

A lesson in scholarly precision

There is a wider lesson here about the way hadith should be studied. Classical scholars did not simply accept or reject narrations according to personal preference. They compared chains, examined differences in wording, assessed narrators, considered Arabic usage and reconciled texts where possible. They also sometimes disagreed with one another.

That disagreement does not mean that one side was careless or that the hadith sciences were inconsistent. It reflects the depth of the scholarly tradition and the seriousness with which scholars treated the words attributed to the Prophet ﷺ.

The narration in Sahih Muslim should therefore be treated with the respect due to an authentic hadith recorded by Imam Muslim. At the same time, al-Suyuti’s discussion should also be represented accurately. He did not pretend the narration did not exist. He argued that another wording should be preferred and then offered an alternative interpretation should Muslim’s wording still be accepted. Other major scholars, including Imam al-Nawawi, disagreed and retained its apparent meaning.

The balanced conclusion

The safest and most accurate conclusion is that there was scholarly disagreement over how this narration should be understood. The explicit words:

“Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire”

are unquestionably recorded in Sahih Muslim. Imam al-Nawawi and other scholars understood them according to their apparent meaning. Imam al-Suyuti, however, preferred another transmitted wording which does not explicitly mention the Prophet’s ﷺ father and offered a further linguistic interpretation if the wording in Muslim is accepted.

The discussion should therefore be approached with care, knowledge and respect. It is not a matter for careless polemics, nor should one scholarly position be presented as though no other recognised interpretation ever existed. The subject is ultimately part of a much larger discussion concerning hadith transmission, ahl al-fatrah and the limits of what human beings can say with certainty about the final judgement of individuals.

And Allah knows best.

References

• The Quran, Surah al-Baqarah, 2:133.
• The Quran, Surah al-Isra, 17:15.
• Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Iman, Hadith 203.
• Imam al-Nawawi, al-Minhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj.
• Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Masalik al-Hunafa fi Waliday al-Mustafa.
• Al-Bazzar, Musnad.
• Al-Tabarani, al-Mu’jam al-Kabir.