Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Whatever the authenticity or otherwise of this Hadith may be, reading Surat al-Waqiah or even a verse of it is a meritorious act that yields a great reward Allah alone can estimate.
As regards your question, Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, the late head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, states:
In his commentary on Surat al-Waqiah, Al-Qurtubi cited this Hadith on the authority of ath-Tha`labi and others without judging it as weak or authentic. Moreover, I did not find this Hadith in any of the books concerned with Hadith authentication.
Whatever the authenticity or otherwise of this Hadith may be, reading Surat al-Waqiah or even a verse of it is a meritorious act that yields a great reward Allah alone can estimate.
The merit of several verses and Surahs of the Qur’an such as Ayat al-Kursi (Al-Baqarah 2:255), the last verses of Surat al-Baqarah, Surat al-Kahf, Surat al-Ikhlas, etc., are clearly indicated in several authentic Hadiths.
There is a reward in the recitation of any part of the Qur’an which is clearly estimated in the Hadith reported by At-Tirmidhi on the authority of Ibn Mas`ud which reads, “Whoever reads one letter of the Book of Allah will have one hasanah or (reward) for doing so, and every hasanah will be multiplied by 10. I do not say that ‘Alif, Lam, Meem’ is one letter, but ‘Alif’ is a letter, ‘Lam’is a letter and ‘Meem’ is a letter.”
On the contrary, there are some Hadiths which are falsely attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) some of which are of weak chain of transmission while others are fabricated, though the Prophet warned against this saying, “And whoever intentionally ascribes something to me falsely, he will surely take his place in the (Hell) Fire.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
The fabrication of Hadiths were done by a group of people including Abu `Ismah Nuh ibn Maryam al-Marwazi, Muhammad ibn `Ukashah al-Karmani, and Ahmad ibn `Abdullah al-Juybari.
Once Abu `Ismah was asked about how he narrated a Hadith on the merits of the Surahs of the Qur’an from `Ikrimah from Ibn `Abbas (This indicates that that the Hadith is fabricated for it was not possible that he narrates from such persons). He said, I saw people getting away from the Qur’an and were concerned with the Hanafi books of jurisprudence and Muhammad ibn Ishaq’s al-Maghazi, I ascribed such Hadiths (that mentions several merits of the Qur’anic chapters ) seeking the reward of Allah for that.
In his book, `Ulum al-Hadith (the Sciences of Hadith), Ibn As-Salah states that among these fabricated Hadiths is the long Hadith which is reported on the authority of Ka`b and ascribed to the Prophet. This Hadith mentions the merits of the Surahs of the Qur’an one by one. Al-Wahidi and other Qur’an commentators wrongly included this Hadith in their commentaries.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.