The Albaani Site

Questioner: I heard a Sufi shaikh mention a hadith, or what he thinks is a hadith, that the Prophet ﷺ came back from an expedition with some of his Companions, and some of them got together and stood in a circle, each one holding the others hands, remembering Allaah. And then Mu’aawiyah ibn Abu Sufyaan passed by them and said, ‘What is this play?’ To which the Prophet ﷺ replied, ‘On the contrary, this is the remembrance of Allaah.’ The shaikh never mentioned any of the well known sources [as to where this hadith came from], so is this [in fact] a hadith or …?

Al-Albaani: And it is right that he never mentioned a source for it—because a person can’t give what he doesn’t have [in the first place], this hadith has no basis. And it behooves the student of knowledge who is discerning regarding his religion that whenever he hears a hadith from someone, he says, ‘Bring your proof if you are truthful … where did you get this hadith from? Is it in the two Saheehs? Is it in the four Sunans? Is it in the ten musnads? Is …? Is …?’ and so on.

And he [i.e., the Sufi shaikh] will, without doubt, be unable to produce it because no such narration exists—and it is known that in order to support their deviation from the religion these Sufis hang on to flights of fancy, i.e., they attach themselves to delusions which have no reality.

Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 83.