Is the hadith ‘Yasin is the heart of the Quran’ sound?

Some Islamic scholars state that the following hadith is weak and that it should not be regarded as sound.
Is it sound or weak?
If it is weak, what should our attitude be?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The hadith narration in question is as follows:

“Yasin is the heart of the Quran. He who reads it in order to attain Allah’s consent and the hereafter will definitely be forgiven. Read it over your dying/deceased people.” (Musnad, 5/26)

A narration similar to the one above is present in Tirmidhi and Darimi as follows:

“Everything has a heart and the heart of the Quran is Yasin. Whoever recites Yasin, Allah shall record for him, because of that recitation, the thawab of the recitation of the whole Quran ten times” (Tirmidhi, Fadailul-Quran, 7; Darimi, Fadailul-Quran, 21)

Tirmidhi states that this hadith is “gharib” and that Harun Abu Muhammad is unknown. He also states that there is another narration whose chain of narrators is not very sound regarding the issue. (Tirmidhi, ibid)

The whole narration included in Ahmad b. Hanbal’s Musnad is as follows:

“The chapter of al-Baqara is the apex of the Quran and its summit. 80 angels descended with each verse of it. Ayatul-Kursiyy was brought out from under the Throne and was connected to it or with the chapter al-Baqara. Yasin is the heart of the Quran. He who reads it in order to attain Almighty Allah’s consent and the hereafter will definitely be forgiven. Read it over your dying/deceased people.” (Musnad, 5/26)

It is stated that the chain of narrators of this hadith is weak. (see Musnad, tahqiq: Shuayb al-Arnawut, Muassasatur-Risala, 33/417, h. no: 20300)

What should our attitude be toward weak hadiths?

It is permissible to narrate the weak hadiths that are related to encouraging and warning people and the virtues of deeds except the ones related to halals, harams, faith and decrees even without stating that they are weak.  

It is a fact that great imams like Ahmad b. Hanbal, Abdurrahman b. Mahdi and Abdullah b. al-Mubarak acted more tolerantly about the narrations of the hadiths related to the virtues of deeds.

Mentioning the chain of narrators is regarded as equal to expressing the value of the hadith but it is stated that it is necessary to narrate a hadith by explaining that even that part is weak since the number of the experts of the science of hadith has diminished. (Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Kifaya, p. 162; Zaynuddin al-Iraqi, at-Taqyid, p. 10)

There are some conditions for acting upon weak hadiths. According to a view attributed to Ibn Hajar, there are three conditions for it:

1. The hadith must not be very weak.

The narrations of the liars who narrate a hadith only themselves, those who are accused of lying and those who make a lot of mistakes are regarded as very weak. 

2. A weak hadith must not be contrary to a general principle that is accepted in Islam.

This condition excludes the things that have no basis in the religion and that are fabricated afterwards.

3. While acting upon a weak hadith, it is necessary to be cautious so as not to attribute something that the Messenger of Allah did not say to him. (Shamsuddin as-Sakhawi, al-Qawlul-Badi, p. 255)

The following conditions are also added:

The hadith must not include exaggerations that the mind, shari’ah and language do not accept and it must not contradict with a religious evidence stronger than it.  (Yusuf al-Qardawi, Sünneti Anlamada Yöntem, p. 88)

According to the explanations above, the hadith narration about the chapter of Yasin being the heart of the Quran is included in the category of the virtues of deeds since it encourages people to read the chapter of Yasin. In that case, it is permissible to act in accordance with that hadith by attracting attention to the fact that it is a weak hadith.

As a matter of fact, the chapter of the chapter of Yasin was also named as “Qalbul-Quran” based on that hadith narration of the heart of the Quran but it did not become widespread. (see Alusi, Ibn Ashur, the interpretation of the chapter of Yasin)

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