Where Are Muhammad’s Parents in Islam?

Sahih Muslim 203Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAnas reported: Verily, a person said: Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: (He) is in the Fire. When he turned away, he (the Holy Prophet) called him and said: Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source says Muhammad’s father and the questioner’s father are in the Fire. Sahih Muslim 976Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAbu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger, (ﷺ) as saying: I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it (permission) to me.Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source says he was allowed to visit his mother’s grave and not allowed to ask forgiveness for her. Muslim scholars disagree about what those reports settle.

Key Points

• Sahih Muslim 203Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAnas reported: Verily, a person said: Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: (He) is in the Fire. When he turned away, he (the Holy Prophet) called him and said: Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source, Abdul Hamid Siddiqui: a man asked where his father was. The answer was the Fire. Then: “Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.” The chapter title says whoever died upon disbelief is in the Fire, and that intercession and kinship will not avail him.
• Sahih Muslim 976Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAbu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger, (ﷺ) as saying: I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it (permission) to me.Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source: “I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it to me.”
• IslamQA 43045 quotes al-Nawawi: people who died in the interval, the fatrah, on the Arab way of idol worship are among the people of Hell, because Ibrahim’s message had reached them.
• The same answer says some scholars claim the parents were brought back to life and believed. It calls those reports fabricated or very weak, and it points to al-Suyuti’s al-Hawi, 2/202, as the place they are collected. This page has not opened al-Hawi.
• The Permanent Committee, fatwa 16426, says people of the fatrah will be tested on the Day of Resurrection, and that Muhammad’s parents are not in that group, because the religion of Ibrahim had reached the Arabs.
• Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, fatwa 6651, says the parents are saved from the Fire as people of the interval, and it cites al-Suyuti and al-Bajuri. That is one Sunni institution’s position, not a consensus.
• 1 John 5:131 John 5:13 · King James VersionThese things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.1 John 5:13 · King James VersionOpen the Source says those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life. The ground is the Son, not a parent’s status.

What Sahih Muslim 203 Says

Sahih Muslim 203Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAnas reported: Verily, a person said: Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: (He) is in the Fire. When he turned away, he (the Holy Prophet) called him and said: Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source, in the Book of Faith. The chapter heading is that whoever died upon disbelief is in the Fire, and that neither intercession nor kinship with those close to Allah will avail him. Abdul Hamid Siddiqui’s English:

Anas reported: Verily, a person said: Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: (He) is in the Fire. When he turned away, he (the Holy Prophet) called him and said: Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.

Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid Siddiqui

Sunni hadith

The report is short. A man asks about his own father, hears “the Fire,” turns away, and is called back so that Muhammad’s father is named in the same sentence. The page does not add a second interpretation inside the hadith.

What Sahih Muslim 976 Says

Sahih Muslim 976Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAbu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger, (ﷺ) as saying: I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it (permission) to me.Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source is in the Book of Funerals. The chapter is the Prophet asking his Lord’s leave to visit his mother’s grave. Abu Huraira reports:

I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it (permission) to me.

Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid Siddiqui

Sunni hadith

Visiting is granted. Asking forgiveness is not. The two reports are about father and mother separately. Neither report, in the English on sunnah.com, says the parent believed. Who Was Muhammad? is the life. Was Muhammad Sinless? is a different question, about his own sin. Qur’an 46:9 and Assurance is what he said about his own end.

Ahl al-Fatrah and the Other Readings

IslamQA 43045, 17 September 2003, puts the grandfather under “the people of the fatrah,” which it defines, from Ibn Kathir, as the interval between two prophets, “when there was a break in the Message.” It divides those people into those the call reached and those it did not. Al-Nawawi, it says, commented on Muslim 203 that whoever died in the fatrah “following the way of the Arabs at that time, namely idol-worship, is among the people of Hell,” because “the message of Ibraaheem and other Prophets had reached these people.”

The same answer records another reading and rejects it. “Some scholars have tried to defend the parents of the Prophet and say that they will be saved from Hell, and that Allah brought them back to life after they had died, and they became Muslim and believed in the Prophet, then they died like that.” The reports offered for that, it says, are “mawdoo‘ (fabricated) and da‘eef jiddan (very weak).” It cites al-Suyuti, al-Hawi li’l-Fataawi, 2/202, for those reports, and al-‘Azeemabaadi for the judgment that the leading hadith scholars called them fabricated or very weak. This page has not opened al-Hawi, so it does not quote Suyuti’s own paragraph. It quotes IslamQA’s account of the dispute.

The Permanent Committee, fatwa 16426, answers a question that asks whether ahl al-fatra are saved and whether the parents were among them and are in Paradise. The English says there is disagreement about ahl al-fatra, and that the stronger view is that they “will be tested on the Day of Resurrection; whoever responds to what is required of him will be saved, and whoever refuses will perish.” It then says the parents “are not among the people of the period of ignorance,” because the Arabs “were upon the religion of Ibrahim,” especially in the Hijaz, and shirk entered later with ‘Amr ibn Luhayy. “The people of the period of ignorance refers to a people to whom the call of none of the messengers reached.” The answer quotes Muslim 203, “Verily my father and your father are in the Fire,” and the report that leave to seek forgiveness for the mother was not granted.

IslamQA and the Permanent Committee both apply Muslim 203 and the refusal of forgiveness to the parents. One refuses a story that they were raised and converted. The other says people of the fatrah will be tested, and that the parents are outside that group. A reader who wants al-Suyuti’s own paragraph still has to open al-Hawi. This page has not opened it.

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta takes the opposing position. Fatwa 6651 says Muhammad’s parents are saved as people of the interval (ahl al-fatrah), and its answer cites al-Suyuti and al-Bajuri in support:

The truth about the fate of the Prophet’s parents is that they are saved from Hell-fire and not from among its dwellers.

Source

The fatwa says Imam al-Suyuti wrote six studies on the question, and it quotes al-Bajuri that the parents are “from ahl-ul-fitrah.” This is a Sunni institutional position, not a consensus of all Muslims. IslamQA and the Permanent Committee instead apply the cited hadith to the parents. The judgment that resurrection-and-belief reports are fabricated should remain attributed to the scholars making that judgment; it should not be presented as an agreed Muslim conclusion.

Qur’an 9:113Qur’an 9:113 · Saheeh InternationalIt is not for the Prophet and those who have believed to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they were relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are companions of Hellfire.Qur’an 9:113 · Saheeh InternationalOpen the Source is the verse the Permanent Committee cites next: it is not for the Prophet and the believers to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even relatives, after it is clear they are companions of the Fire. The committee says the verse concerns Abu Talib and those like him. The hadith about the mother is a refusal of forgiveness, not a sermon about Abu Talib. The pages keep them side by side.

Assurance in Christ

1 John 5:131 John 5:13 · King James VersionThese things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.1 John 5:13 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the letter was written so that those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life. John 5:24John 5:24 · King James VersionVerily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.John 5:24 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the one who hears Jesus’ word and believes him who sent Jesus has everlasting life and has passed from death to life. John 14:6John 14:6 · King James VersionJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.John 14:6 · King James VersionOpen the Source says Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him. The knowledge in those sentences is tied to the Son, not to whether a parent was reached by an earlier prophet.

Christians do not say a family name saves. John 1:12–13John 1:12–13 · King James Version^1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ^1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.John 1:12–13 · King James VersionOpen the Source says those who received him were given power to become the sons of God, born not of blood. They also do not say God is unsure about people who never heard. Romans 1:18–20Romans 1:18–20 · King James Version^1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ^1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ^1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:Romans 1:18–20 · King James VersionOpen the Source and Romans 2:12–16Romans 2:12–16 · King James Version^2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; ^2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. ^2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: ^2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) ^2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.Romans 2:12–16 · King James VersionOpen the Source speak of revelation and of the law written on the heart. The assurance text is narrower: the person who believes on the Son may know. Jesus is God. Is Jesus God? and What Does the Bible Say About Salvation? are that claim. Why Can’t God Just Forgive? is the Qur’an’s account of forgiveness beside the cross.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Sahih Muslim Say Muhammad’s Father Is in the Fire?

Yes. Sahih Muslim 203Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAnas reported: Verily, a person said: Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: (He) is in the Fire. When he turned away, he (the Holy Prophet) called him and said: Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.Sahih Muslim 203 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source says, “Verily my father and your father are in the Fire.”

What About His Mother?

Sahih Muslim 976Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiAbu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger, (ﷺ) as saying: I sought permission to beg forgiveness for my mother, but He did not grant it to me. I sought permission from Him to visit her grave, and He granted it (permission) to me.Sahih Muslim 976 · Abdul Hamid SiddiquiOpen the Source says permission to ask forgiveness for her was not given, and permission to visit her grave was given.

What Is Ahl al-Fatrah?

IslamQA 43045, citing Ibn Kathir, calls it the interval between two prophets when the message was interrupted. The Permanent Committee says such people will be tested on the Day of Resurrection, and that Muhammad’s parents are not in that group. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta says the parents are saved as people of the interval, citing al-Suyuti and al-Bajuri. IslamQA records, and rejects, a claim that the parents were later raised and believed. That rejection is IslamQA’s judgment, not an agreed Muslim conclusion.

Keep Reading

• What Do Muslims Believe?
• Who Was Muhammad?
• Was Muhammad Sinless?
• Qur’an 46:9: Did Muhammad Know He Was Saved?
• What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?
• Is Jesus God?
• The Trinity