Hadith 30

Commentary

'Deliberately telling lies' means fabricating something, then attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ and presenting it as a Prophetic Hadīth. It is an act of great sin. It is on the basis of this that the Hadīth scholars have drawn the maxim that if, on a certain occasion, one feels the need to narrate a Weak Hadīth of the Prophet ﷺ, it must be clarified to the listeners that it is a Weak Hadīth. The reason being that a Weak Hadīth does not create the conviction as to whether the Prophet ﷺ did really speak those words, or the narrator has mistakenly narrated it as such. 'Taking one's place in Hell' means the person is doomed to be consigned to Hell, and he must be sure that, due to his act of sin, his seat has been booked in Hell. However, it is hoped that, if the person repents and admits before the people that such and such traditions narrated by him in the name of the Prophet ﷺ were coined by him, his sin may be forgiven by Allāh, although the Hadith scholars would not even then accept his narrations.