Is this hadith is authentic? "All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the mujahirin..."

Question

I read this hadith from a website. Please tell me a place where I can search for this hadith's classification.

Narrated Abu Huraira: "I heard Allah's Apostle saying. "All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujahirin (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people). An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night and though Allah screens it from the public, then he comes in the morning, and says, 'O so-and-so, I did such-and-such (evil) deed yesterday,' though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah's screen from himself."
(Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Good Manners and Form (Al-Adab), Volume 8, Book 73, Number 95)"

Answer 1

Since the Hadith in question says that it is from Sahih Bukhari (and provides exact information on where to find it once there), you can always check the online version and see if it matches up:

http://www.sahih-bukhari.com/

Which it does.

Answer 2

This Hadith is Sahih (Genuine).

The Hadith in Arabic:

5721 حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ عَنْ ابْنِ أَخِي ابْنِ شِهَابٍ عَنْ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ كُلُّ أُمَّتِي مُعَافًى إِلَّا الْمُجَاهِرِينَ وَإِنَّ مِنْ الْمُجَاهَرَةِ أَنْ يَعْمَلَ الرَّجُلُ بِاللَّيْلِ عَمَلًا ثُمَّ يُصْبِحَ وَقَدْ سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فَيَقُولَ يَا فُلَانُ عَمِلْتُ الْبَارِحَةَ كَذَا وَكَذَا وَقَدْ بَاتَ يَسْتُرُهُ رَبُّهُ وَيُصْبِحُ يَكْشِفُ سِتْرَ اللَّهِ عَنْهُ

And here is the Hadith from Sahih Albukhari.

The same Hadith from Sahih Muslim

Answer 3

Well, it seems you have given us the answer.

Narrated Abu Huraira: "I heard Allah's Apostle saying. "All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujahirin (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people). An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night and though Allah screens it from the public, then he comes in the morning, and says, 'O so-and-so, I did such-and-such (evil) deed yesterday,' though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah's screen from himself." (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Good Manners and Form (Al-Adab), Volume 8, Book 73, Number 95)"

So this hadith is from Sahih Bukari. If you wanted to check the health of the hadith, look at his title:

The Arabic word sahih translates as authentic or correct.

So, his title somewhat gives you it's health.

Answer 4

Well this Hadith could be found in many Hadith collections:

• like sahih al-Bukhari where "will be forgiven" is referred to (in Arabic) by معافى which regard the Ummah or all the followers of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as a masculin plural (which is the most used version in other hadith collections). In some narrations of sahih al-Bukhari you may find instead of the mansob version "الْمُجَاهِرِينَ" (al-Mujahirin) the marfo' "الْمُجَاهِرُونَ" (al-Mujahiron) which is the version of an-Nasafi and correct Arabic according the al-Kufa school (but worng accoring al-basra school).
• sahih Muslim where "would get pardon" is referred to (in Arabic) by معافاة which consider the Ummah or the followers of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as a feminin singular.
• Abu Na'im also quoted it in his book hilyat al-awliya' حلية الأولياء 2/255 (you could use this linked site to check the narrator chains if you are able to read Arabic) with a different statement:

إن من شرار الناس المجاهرين. قالوا : يا رسول الله ! وما المجاهرون ؟ قال : الذي يذنب الذنب بالليل فيستره الله عليه ، فيصبح فيحدث به الناس فيقول : فعلت البارحة كذا وكذا فيهتك ستر الله عنه

(My translation so take it with care)

Among the worst people are those who publicise, they Asked: o Messenger of Allah! And who are those who publicise? He said: (it means) that is a servant who does a bad deed during the night whereas Allah concealed it, and in the morning he tells the people about it and says: Yesterday i did such and such. So he disclose the cover of Allah from him.

• And others like al-Bayhaqi, ibn Al-A'rabi, ibn al-Bzaz, ibn 'abd al-Barr ... (A complete list in Arabic see here)

All these more or less different narrations have been narrated on the authority of abu Huraira (=Abdullah ibn Sakhr عبد الرحمن بن صخر ) (May Allah be pleased with him)!

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Just to check the authenticity again here i will go through the narrator chains of the 3 linked narrations:

• In sahih al-Bukhari the chain goes as follows:

Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah (Al-Awaysi) عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: Trustworthy ثقة

Ibrahim ibn Sa'ad (Az-Zuhari) إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ: Trustworthy, authority ثقة حجة

The son of the brother of ibn Shihab (Mohammad ibn Abdullah az-Zuhari) ابْنِ أَخِي ابْنِ شِهَابٍ: Was considered as trustworthy to some extent as he had some "fantasy's" صدوق له أوهام

Ibn Shihab (also known as "Az-Zuhari") ابْنِ شِهَابٍ: is a well known Muhadith and Scholar (he was asked to collect ahadith by the khalifa 'Omar ibn Abdulaziz) he is trustworthy, if his hadith has a sanad (he used to do marasil=jumping some of the rawys)!

Salim ibn Abdullah (also known as salim ibn Abdullah al-'Adawy) سَالِمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: he is known to be trustworthy ثقة and certain (doesn't mix or forget) ثبت

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• In sahih Muslim the chain goes as follows (the 3 first narrators narrated from the 4th one and afterwards the chain is the same as in sahih al-Bukhari):

Zohayr ibn Harb (al-Harshi) زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ: trustworthy and certain ثقة ثبت

Mohammad ibn Hatem (as-Samyn) مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ حَاتِمٍ: he used to tell the truth but had apparently fantasy's, was a nobel man صدوق ربما وهم وكان فاضلا, Yahya ibn Ma'yn said he was a liar!

'Abd ibn Humayd (al-Kashi or al-Koshi) عَبْدُ بْنُ حُمَيْدٍ : trustworthy and had a good memory ثقة حافظ

Ya'qob ibn Ibrahim (al-Qurashi) يَعْقُوبُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ: trustworthy ثقة

->Ibrahim ibn Sa'ad (Az-Zuhari)->The son of the brother of ibn Shihab-> Ibn Shihab -> Salim ibn Abdullah (see the chain of al-Bukhari)

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• In hilyat al-awliya' the chain goes as follows:

Solayman ibn Ahmad (At-Tabarani) سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ: Imam trustworthy with a good memory and an author of many ahadith collections

'Ali ibn Abdulaziz (Ibrahim ibn 'isa al-'Absy) عَلِيُّ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ: unknown

'Obayd ibn Y'iych (al-Mahlami) عُبَيْدُ بْنُ يَعِيشَ: trustworthy, ibn Hiban said he made some mistakes

Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyach (Al-Assadi) أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ: sadoq صدوق and hasan al hadith حسن الحديث : he used to do mistakes most scholars because he seem to have a bad memory and used to mix when he became older but all agree that he was not a liar or a fabricator!

Mobashshir مُبَشِّرٍ: I couldn't find him!

(Ibn Shihab) Az-Zuhari -> Salim ibn Abdullah (See the chain from sahih al-Bukahri)

Conclusion: The chains of the both sahih books have a very high level of authenticity!

And Allah knows best!