Assalaamu alaykum. My question is regarding the hadith or narration that says that when Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, arrived in Madinah, the women beat their drums and the children sang the song 'Tala Al-Badru alayna'. Is this authentic? Kindly clarify.

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.

The story that you mentioned in the question was reported by Al-Bayhaqi and narrated by ‘Aa’ishah who said, “When the Messenger of Allaah came to Madeenah, the women and children were chanting, 'Tala’a al-badru ‘alayna; min thaniyyaatil-wadaa’ / wajaba ash-shukru ‘alayna; ma da’a li-llaahi daa.'” [Meaning: The full moon has appeared before us; from the departure mountain-pass / We must give thanks; whenever the supplicant beseeches Allaah.]

However, the story was classified by Al-Albaani as weak in As-Silsilah Adh-Dha’eefah, as he said under the hadeeth no. 598:

“That when he came to Madeenah, the women and children were chanting, 'Tala’a al-badru ‘alayna; min thaniyyaatil-wadaa’ / wajaba ash-shukru ‘alayna; ma da’a li-llaahi daa’,' is weak. It was reported by Abul-Hasan Al-Khila’i in Al-Fawaa'id (2/59) and by Al-Bayhaqi in Dalaa'il An-Nubuwwah 92/233) from Al-Fadhl ibn Al-Hubaab, who said, 'I heard Abdullaah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Aa’ishah say ...,' and he mentioned the hadeeth.

This chain of narrators is weak; its men [narrators] are trustworthy, but it is deficient as it lacks three narrators or more from the chain of narrators.”

He [Al-Albaani] also said:

“What confirms that the mention of Dufoof (plural of Duff, i.e. a tambourine-like instrument without bells) is objectionable in the story of welcoming the Prophet [in Madeenah] is the statement of Al-Bara' ibn 'Aazib 'Then the Prophet came to Madeenah, and I have never seen the people of Madeenah so happy as when they welcomed the Messenger of Allaah to the extent that the slave girls were saying, 'The Messenger of Allaah has arrived…'” [Al-Bukhari and others]

The hadeeth by Anas ibn Maalik is the same, as he said:

“I walked among the boys, who were saying, 'Muhammad has arrived.' I ran (to see him), but I did not see anything. Then they were saying, 'Muhammad has arrived.' I ran (to see him), but did not see anything ... until Muhammad came along with his companion Abu Bakr. We were at some stony suburbs of Madeenah; then a man from Madeenah sent us to proclaim the arrival of the Prophet’s and his companion to the Ansaar. Around five hundred people from the Ansaar were waiting to welcome them. The Ansaar said to them, 'You are safe and obeyed. So the Prophet and his companion came in the middle of their crowd, and the people of Madeenah came out to see him to the extent that the virgins were on top of the roofs to see them, asking, 'Which one is he? Which one is he?' He said, 'We have never seen such a scene before.' Anas ibn Maalik said, 'I saw him [the Prophet] the day that he entered upon us [he came to Madeenah] and the day that he died; I have never seen the people so happy like the day when he came, and I have never seen them so sad like the day that he died.' [Al-Bukhari in At-Taareekh As-Sagheer, and Al-Bayhaqi in Dalaa’il An-Nubuwwah]

This chain of narration is authentic according to the criteria set by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

What is meant is that these authentic ahaadeeth make the Dufoof and singing mentioned in this hadeeth that we are reviewing and its likes objectionable.”[Abridged]

Allaah knows best.