Back to search

Was the Bridge (As-Sirat) mentioned before the Scales (Al-Mizan) in the Hadith of Anas ibn Malik concerning intercession?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Hadith in which Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) requests intercession from the Prophet (peace be upon him) and asks to find him first at the Sirat (Bridge), then at the Mizan (Scale), and then at the Hawd (Pond) is a sound and rare Hadith (Hasan Gharib), but its meaning is problematic.

It is well-known among scholars that the Hawd comes first, then the Mizan, then the Sirat. They have based this on authentic Ahadith that confirm it, among them is the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah in Bukhari, which indicates that the Hawd precedes the Sirat, and the Hadith of the Qantarah (Bridge) after the Sirat, which indicates that the Mizan precedes it.

Some scholars have attempted to reconcile the problematic Hadith, but these interpretations are weak because they contradict the apparent meaning of other texts and are understood from their context to imply an order of encounter.

It is possible that there is an error in the Hadith from its narrator, Harb ibn Maymun, who was authenticated but was attributed with errors in some of his narrations and rare Hadith.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy