All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
For a very long time, people have been transmitting many Hadeeths on the merits and virtues of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, without verifying their authenticity. They attribute them either to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, or to Allaah The Almighty. Thus, they have been led to exceed the appropriate limits in praising the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This happens even though he commanded us not to exaggerate in praising him as the Christians praised ‘Eesaa (Jesus) the son of Maryam (Mary); rather he ordered us to call him the Slave of Allaah The Almighty and His Messenger. [Narrated by Al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Hurayrah]
Consequently, it is prohibited to attribute anything to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, or to Allaah The Almighty (as a Hadeeth Qudsi (Sacred Hadeeth)) without verifying and knowing the degree of its authenticity. Indeed, authentic Hadeeths are quite sufficient against all other types of Hadeeths. We mean by an authentic Hadeeth that which is valid as proof.
There are several inauthentic Hadeeths being circulated in various wordings among people on the virtues of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, including the three Hadeeths quoted above:
- The first Hadeeth is fabricated. See Fatwa 83805.
- The second Hadeeth could not be found either within Saheeh (Authentic) nor Dha‘eef (weak) Hadeeths. However, there are fabricated Hadeeths with similar meanings such as, "Were it not for Muhammad, Allaah The Almighty would not have created the universe, Paradise and Hell", and, "Were it not for Muhammad, Allaah The Almighty would not have created the world". All these Hadeeths are fabricated, as stated by Ibn Al-Jawzi, As-Suyooti and Al-Albaani .
- The third Hadeeth is a very Dha‘eef (weak) Hadeeth. It was even judged to be invalid by Imaam Ibn ‘Abdul-Haadi and Shaykh Muhammad Basheer As-Sahsawaani .
Allaah Knows best.