Q&A: Is this hadith authentic: "Whoever performs a deed without knowledge he corrupts more than he rectifies.”

Question:

Is this hadith authentic: “Whoever performs a deed without knowledge he corrupts more than he rectifies.”?

Answer:

This is not found in books of hadith. The following is the answer from Fatwa Center of Islamweb:

هل هذا حديث: من عمل على غير علم كان ما يُفسد أكثر مما يُصلح؟

Is this a hadith: “Whoever performs a deed without knowledge he corrupts more than he rectifies.”?

الإجابــة

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه، أما بعـد:

^{فالعبارة} المشار إليها لا نعلم أنها حديث مرفوع إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم إذ لم نجد لها أثرا في كتب السنة والحديث ودواوينها، فليس هو بحديث ولكنه قول مروي عن الخليفة الراشد عمر بن عبد العزيز رحمه الله تعالى، فقد روى الطبري في تاريخه عن عبد الرحمن بن مهدي عن سفيان قال: قال عمر بن عبد العزيز: من عمل على غير علم كان ما يفسد أكثر مما يصلح، ومن لم يعد كلامه من عمله كثرت ذنوبه... رواه ابن سعد في الطبقات عن سفيان عن رجل من أهل مكة عن عمر بن عبد العزيز قال... إلخ.

والله أعلم.

Answer:

All praise to Allah. Peace and blessings upon the messenger of Allah, his family and companions.

As for what follows:

The expression alluded to, we do not know it as a hadith from the prophet (saw) because we do not find any trace of it in the books of Sunnah, Hadith and its collections, so it is not a hadith, but a statement narrated from the Rightly Guided Caliph Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (rh). At-Tabari related in his Tarikh from Abd ar-Rahman bin Mahdi from Sufyan said: Umar bin Abd al-Aziz said: “Whoever performs a deed without knowledge, he corrupts more then he rectifies. Whoever does not consider his words as part of his actions, then his sins will be many...” Related by Ibn Sa’ad in at-Tabaqat from Sufyan from a man who is from the people of Mekah from Umar bin Abd al-Aziz who said: .... And Allah knows best.

This hadith is also similar to the other wording which the scholars of hadith (as-Sakhawi and others) say is not a hadith, but probably a statement of one of the companions, Dhirar bin al-Azwar. The wording quoted in books of weak and false hadiths:

من عبد الله بجهل كان ما يفسد أكثر مما يصلح

Meaning: "Whoever worships Allah upon ignorance, he corrupts more than what he rectifies."

Both statements are not hadiths of the prophet, however, they have a sound meaning.