Narrator: Abu Hurayrah (r.a.)
Numbering: Sunnah.com
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو تَوْبَةَ قَالَ زَعَمَ الْوَلِيدُ عَنِ الْأَوْزَاعِيِّ عَنْ قُرَّةَ عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: «كُلُّ كَلَامٍ لَا يُبْدَأُ فِيهِ بِالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ أَجْذَمُ». قَالَ أَبُو دَاوُدَ: رَوَاهُ يُونُسُ وَعُقَيْلٌ وَشُعَيْبٌ وَسَعِيدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم مُرْسَلًا.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Every speech that is not begun with al-hamdu lillah is maimed (cut off from blessing).” Abu Dawud said: Yunus, ‘Uqayl, Shu‘ayb and Sa‘id ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz narrated it from al-Zuhri from the Prophet as a mursal report.
Grade
Flags weakness (mursal path from al-Zuhri)
Imam Abu Dawud
Sunan Abi Dawud 4840
He himself recorded that the stronger routes from al-Zuhri are mursal.
His checking of Sunan Abi Dawud
Cited for the virtue of the basmalah
Sheikh Redwan Muhammad Redwan
Majmu‘ah ar-Rasa’il, footnote no. 76
His wording uses the basmalah (“the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”), a variant of the hamd wording in this Abu Dawud report. He explains “severed” as deficient in blessing.
Acting on a weak report in fada’il al-a‘mal
Imam al-Nawawi writes in al-Adhkar: “The scholars among the hadith specialists, the jurists and others have said: it is permitted and encouraged to act, in matters of merit and of encouragement and warning, upon a weak hadith — so long as it is not fabricated (mawdu‘).” As for rulings such as the lawful and unlawful, sale, marriage and divorce, these may rest only on a sahih or hasan report.
The conditions Ibn ‘Allan states in al-Futuhat al-Rabbaniyya (1/84): (1) the report is neither fabricated nor severely weak; (2) it falls under an established general principle; and (3) when acting on it one does not hold it to be established from the Prophet (peace be upon him), but acts out of precaution.
Al-Adhkar, al-Nawawi — section on acting upon a weak hadith
Notes
This report circulates with several wordings: al-hamdu lillah, bi-hamdillah, bi-dhikrillah, and bi-bismillah. Abu Dawud’s wording here is hamd, not the basmalah.
Its grade is disputed: some scholars called it hasan; many later hadith critics call it da‘if. This card shows both voices rather than a single badge.