Are there any saheeh ahaadeeth which speak of the virtues of reading Soorat Ya-Seen? Some people say that Ya-Seen is for that for which it is read?
Praise be to Allaah. Firstly; Soorat Ya-Seen is one of the Makkan soorahs of the Qur'aan, containing eighty-three verses, with frequent pauses and short phrases which has a strong effect on the believing soul. Its main subject matter is the same as other Makkan soorahs; it speaks of Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (the Oneness of Allaah and devoting worship solely to Him) and Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah (the Oneness of Allaah and of His Lordship) and the punishment for those who disbelieve in that. The issue that is focused on in this soorah is the issue of the Resurrection.
Secondly: There are a number of ahaadeeth which speak of the virtues of this soorah, most of which are, however, false and fabricated, and some of which are slightly weak (da'eef). We have not found any saheeh hadeeth which speaks specifically of the virtues of Soorat Ya-Seen.
Among the reports which have been narrated concerning its virtues but classed as da'eef by the scholars of hadeeth include the following, which we are only quoting here to warn about them:
"Everything has a hear,. and the heart of the Qur'aan is Ya-Seen; whoever reads it, it is as if he has read the Qur'aan ten times."
"Whoever reads Soorat Ya-Seen in one night will be forgiven in the morning."
"Whoever continues to read it every night then dies. will die as a shaheed (martyr) ."
"Whoever enters the graveyard and reads Soorat Ya-Seen, their (punishment) will be reduced that day, and he will have hasanaat (reward) equal to the number of people in the graveyard. "
[See: al-Mawdoo'aat by Ibn al-Jawzi (2/313); al-Fawaa'id al-Majmoo'ah by al-Shawkaani (979, 942). See also the essay Hadeeth Qalb al-Qur'aan Ya-Seen (i'l-Mizaan wa jumlat mimma ruwiya (i Fadaa'iliha by Shaykh Muhammad 'Amr 'Abd al-Lateef,. May Allaah preserve him].
For That For Which It Is Read?
Thirdly: Some people narrate a hadeeth which says ''Ya-Seen is for that for which it is read," meaning that reading Soorat Ya-Seen may cause needs to be met and may make things easier, according to the intention of the reader when he reads it. We must note that it is incorrect to attribute these words to the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallaallahu alayhi wa sallam) or to any of the scholars among the Sahaabah, Taabi'een or imams. No such words have been narrated from any of them, rather they pointed out that this is false.
Al-Sakhaawi (RAH) said of this hadeeth: There is no basis for this version. [Al-Maqaasid al-Hasanah (741)]. Al-Qadi Zakariya said in Haashiyat al-Baydaawi: it is mawdoo' (fabricated), as it says in Kashf al-Khafa' (2/2215). Something similar appears in al-Shadharah fi'l-Ahaadeeth al-Mushtaharah by Ibn Tuloon al-Saalihi(2/ 1158) and in al-Asraar al-Marfoo'ah by al-Qaari (619), and elsewhere.
It is not permissible for anyone to attribute this hadeeth to the Prophet (sallaallahu alayhi wa sallam) or to speak of it in people's gatherings. Whoever claims that experience shows this hadeeth to be true should be told: Experience also shows that for many of those who read Ya-Seen to have their needs met, Allaah did not meet their needs, so why should we accept your experience and not the experience of others?
Humility
We should point out here that many of those whose needs are met when they call upon Allaah (du'aa') or recite such verses, have their needs met because of the humility and need for Allaahthat they feel in their hearts, and their sincere turning to Him, not because of the du'aa' that they recited or the du'aa' that they offered beside a grave, and so on.
What Imam Ibn Katheer (RAH) quoted in Tafseer al-Qur'aan il-'Azeem (3/742) from some of the scholars, that one of the qualities of this soorah is that it is never recited in the event of some difficult matter but Allaah makes it easy" is ijtihaad [personal opinion] on their part, for which there is no evidence from the Qur'aan or Sunnah, or from the words of the Sahaabah [Companions] or Taabi'een [Followers of the Companions].Such ijtihaad cannot be attributed to Allaah or His Messenger, rather it can only be attributed to the one who said it, who may be right or wrong.
It is not permissible to attribute to the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of His Messenger anything but that which we are certain is part of it. Allaah says:
"Say (O Muhammad): (But) the things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are Al Fawaahish (great evil sins and every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse) whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppression, joining partners (in worship) with Allaah for which He has given no authority, and saying things about Allaah of which you have no knowledge" (Q7[al-A'raaf]:33)
Acceptance Of Haraam Du'aa
Shaykh ai-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (RAH) said:
"The reason why the needs of some of those who offered haraam du'aa's are met is that one of them may be in desperate need, such that even if a mushrik were in that state, praying beside an idol, he would receive a response, because of his sincere turning to Allaah, even though saying du'aa' beside the idol is shirk! Still, even if his need is met by means of the one that he is taking as a mediator with Allaah, whether it is the occupant of the grave or someone else, he will be punished for that and will be thrown into Hell, if Allaah does not forgive him.
Then he said: "Hence many people get it wrong, because they hear about some prominent righteous people who did an act of worship or recited a certain du'aa' and they found that that act or worship or du'aa' had an effect, so they took that as evidence that this act of worship or du'aa' is something good to do, and they regard that action as a Sunnah, as if a Prophet had done it.
This is a mistake for the reasons we have mentioned above, especially since the effects of that action only came as the result of sincerity in the person's heart when he did it! Then his followers do it without sincerity, so they are harmed by it, because this action is not prescribed, so they do not attain the reward for following, and they do not have the same sincerity as the first one did, who may be forgiven because of his sincerity and sound intention", [Iqtida' as-Siraat al-Mustaqeem (2/698, 700)]