The Hadith of Abu Hurairah :ra: is an authentic narration. There is no doubt in it.
Instead of doubting the integrity of Abu Hurairah :ra:, you should first try to find out the reasons as to why he did so. We are supposed to find 70 excuses for a Muslim brother, and here we have a great Sahabi of Rasulullah :saws:!
Let's analyze the Hadith once again,
1. We all know that zakat and sadaqah is for the needy. When the man (shaitan in disguise) complained of poverty and need, Abu Hurairah :ra: must have thought that this person is one of those whom the charity is to be distributed.
2. Another Islamic ruling is, if a person steals food out of extreme poverty and need, then there is no punishment on him. His hand will not be chopped off. Please see
http://www.islamandquran.org/fatwas/...e-cut-off.html , it says there at point # 4,
Nobody’s hand can be cut off if a person or his/her family for whom he/she is responsible to take care of was starving and therefore stole food.
3. If the action of Abu Hurairah :ra: was wrong, then Rasulullah :saws: would have reprimanded him for that and would have assigned a different Sahabi as a guard for that charity. Instead, Rasulullah :saws: allowed him to continue taking charge for it and said,
Allah :swt: had already informed Rasulullah :saws: of the complete incident of Shaitan stealing the food. Even then he allowed it because there are lessons for us to learn from the incident and there are rulings that are to be derived from this incident.
He simply kept saying that the Shaitan has lied and that he will return again.
One thing that we can say from this incident about Abu Hurairah :ra: was that he was soft in heart and took pity on the thief because of his poverty. He was kind-hearted and benevolent.
The Sahabah were always eager to learn more and more about Islam. When he said that he will teach something which Allah will benefit him with, Abu Hurairah :ra: did not want to let go of this opportunity.
Up until this point, Abu Hurairah :ra: did not know that the person who was stealing the food was Shaitan. He simply thought him to be a needy Muslim and helped him as such.
At the end of the Hadith, it says,
Narrated by
Bukhari.
Abu Hurairah :ra: is far from that. He was the first one to accept Islam at the hands of Tufail ibn 'Amr Dawsy :ra:. Tufail :ra: was the chief of Daws tribe. When he visited Makkah, the Quraish warned him about the Prophet :saws: and asked him to put cotton in his ears to avoid any accidental listening of Qur'an or anything from the Prophet :saws:. When Tufail :ra: entered Masjid Al-Haram, he saw the Prophet :saws: praying there and he said to himself, I am a learned poet and I can distinguish between the good and bad, so he removed the cotton and listened to the Prophet :saws: and accepted Islam. When he returned to his tribe, he first invited his family members to Islam. When they all accepted, he invited his tribesmen to Islam. He says:
I then invited the Daws as a whole to become Muslims. They were all slow in responding, except Abu Hurayrah. He was the quickest to respond to the invitation of Islam.
The next time I went to Makkah, Abu Hurayrah was with me.
"What have you left behind?' the Prophet asked me.
"Hearts with veils over them obscuring the Truth, and firm disbelief. Sin and disobedience have won over the Daws."
The Prophet thereupon stood up, made wudu and prayed with his hands raised to the heavens. Abu Hurayrah remarked, "When I saw the Prophet like this, I was afraid that he was praying against my people and that they would be destroyed."
But the Prophet, upon whom be peace, prayed, "O Lord, guide the Daws, guide the Daws, guide the Daws." Then he turned to me and said:
"Go back to your people, befriend them, treat them gently and invite them to Islam."
Once Marwan ibn al-Hakam wanted to test Abu Hurayrah's :ra: power of memory. He sat with him in one room and behind a curtain he placed a scribe, unknown to Abu Hurayrah :ra:, and ordered him to write down whatever Abu Hurayrah :ra: said. A year later, Marwan called Abu Hurayrah :ra: again and asked him to recall the same ahadith which the scribe had recorded. It was found that he had forgotten not a single word.
http://islamicweb.com/history/sahaba...U_HURAYRAH.htm
During the caliphate of 'Umar :ra: :ra:, 'Umar :ra: :ra: appointed him as governor of Bahrain. 'Umar :ra: was very scrupulous about the type of persons whom he appointed as governors. He was always concerned that his governors should live simply and frugally and not acquire much wealth even though this was through lawful means.
In Bahrain, Abu Hurayrah :ra: became quite rich. 'Umar :ra: heard of this and recalled him to Madinah. 'Umar :ra: thought he had acquired his wealth through unlawful means and questioned him about where and how he had acquired such a fortune.
Abu Hurayrah :ra: replied: "From breeding horses and gifts which I received." "Hand it over to the treasury of the Muslims," ordered 'Umar :ra:.Abu Hurayrah :ra: did as he was told and raised his hands to the heavens and prayed: "O Lord, forgive the Amir al-Muminin."
Subsequently,
'Umar :ra: asked him to become governor once again but he declined. 'Umar :ra: asked him why he refused and he said: "So that my honor would not be besmirched, my wealth taken and my back beaten." And he added: "And I fear to judge without knowledge and speak without wisdom."
http://islamicweb.com/history/sahaba...U_HURAYRAH.htm
The last part clearly indicates that 'Umar :ra: was so sure of integrity of Abu Hurairah :ra: that he wanted to appoint him as governor once again.
Now if anyone speaks against any of the Sahabah, or slanders any of them or tries to highlight any of their perceived shortcomings, he will not be allowed to post openly on this forum anymore.