Authenticity of hadeeth: “When your leaders are the best of you...”

28-12-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is this hadith authentic:
Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, said, “When your leaders are the best of you, the richest are the most generous among you, and your affairs are consulted among you, then the surface of the earth is better for you than its belly. And when your leaders are the worst of you, the richest are the stingiest among you, and your affairs are referred to your women, then the belly of the earth is better for you than its surface.”[4]

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Answer:

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.

This hadeeth was reported by at-Tirmithi in his Sunan, and he said about it, “It is a strange hadeeth.”

Sheikh Al-Albaani classified it as weak when classifying the ahaadeeth of Sunan At-Tirmithi and when classifying the ahaadeeth of At-Targheeb wa At-Tarheeb of Al-Munthiri.

Allah knows best.