ASSALAAMU ALAIKUM WA ROHMATULLOHI WABARAKAATUH Sheikh, I have a query about the virtue of reciting Surah Hud (Surah No. 11) on Friday Reference (Musnad al-Darami, 2/545, Hadeeth # 3400, Shu’ab al—Eeman, 2/472, Hadeeth#2438, Al-Durr al-Manthoor, 3/346, Fadha’il Suwar al-Qur’an al-Kareem, Pg.255, Al-Salaam). Is this hadith Sahih, Weak, Very weak or Fabricated? Please provide me with detailed evidence. May ALLAAH reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The Hadeeth that was reported by ad-Daarimi in the Sunan and which was narrated by Ka'ab reads: “The Prophet said: “Recite Surah Hud on Friday.”

We say that it is not correct to attribute this Hadeeth to the Prophet as it is a Mursal Hadeeth. Ka’b Al-Ahbaar was one of the Taabi’een (the generation that followed that of the Companions) and he did not see or meet the Prophet . [Mursal Hadeeth is a narration on the authority of some of the Taabi'een (the generation that followed the Companions) and it is one of the categories of weak Ahadeeth]

It is well known that the Mursal Hadeeth is one of the categories of the weak Ahadeeth. It is for this reason that Shaykh Al-Albaani classified it as Dha’eef (weak) in Dha’eef al-Jaami’ under number 1070.

When reviewing the Musnad of ad-Daarimi, Shaykh Hussayn Saleem Asad said about this Hadeeth: “Its chain of narrators is weak because it is a Mursal Hadeeth.”

Ibn Hajar said in Nataa-ij al-Afkaar:

“This Hadeeth is Mursal but its chain of narrators is authentic. Ibn Mardawayh reported it in Tafseer al-Musnad from another narration from Muslim Ibn Ibraheem, as he thought that Ka’b was a Companion; whereas he was not so. Rather, he was Ka’b al-Ahbaar and he was one of the great Taabi’een.

Allah knows best.