15. THE ISRA'ILIYYAT IN THE COMMENTARY OF THE QUR'AN AND THE HADITH (4)

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15. THE ISRĀ’ĪLIYYĀT IN THE COMMENTARY OF THE QUR’ĀN AND THE ḤĀDĪTH (4) The isrā’iliyyāt (Jewish legends) could be genuine or weak, could be correspondent to Islamic law, or against it, or irrelevant to it; it could deal with beliefs, law, religious exhortation, or events which have no relevance with beliefs and laws. Some evidences prohibited Muslims from reporting them, and others allowed the reporting of them. Among the evidences prohibiting from reporting them are as follows: Abū Hurayrah reported that when the Jews read the Torah in Hebrew and explained them in Arabic to the Muslims the Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬said, ‫لا ُت َك ِّذبُو ُه ْاما َاواقُولُوااآ َم َّناا ا‬ ‫با َو َ ا‬ ‫لا ْال ِك َتا ِا‬ ‫ص ِّدقُوااأَهْ َا‬ ‫َا‬ َ ‫لا ُت‬ ‫ا(رواهاالبخاري) ا‬...‫لاإِلَ ْي َنا‬ ‫اّللا َو َمااأ ُ ْن ِز َا‬ ‫ِب َِّا‬ Neither believe nor disbelieve the People of the Book, but say “we believe in Allah and in what is revealed to us…” (Reported by al-Bukhari) and therefore, it is not allowed to report it. Here the Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬was referring to sūrat al-Baqarah verse 136 (Q. 2:136). Moreover, Ibn Mas‘ūd was reported to have said: “Do not ask the People of the Book, as they would never guide you, and they themselves have been lost, or [if you do so] you might deny a truth and believe a falsehood.” The Qur’ān itself indicates the possibility of asking the People of the Book, and reporting the isrā’iliyyāt, such as: ‫ِينا ا‬ ‫لاالَّذ َا‬ ‫كا َفاسْ أ َ ِا‬ ‫تافِيا َشكاا ِممَّااأَ ْن َز ْل َنااإِلَ ْي َا‬ ‫َفإِنْاا ُك ْن َا‬ ‫) ا‬49:‫ا(يونس‬...‫ك‬ ‫ابامِنْاا َق ْبلِ َا‬ ‫ُونا ْال ِك َت َا‬ ‫َي ْق َرء َا‬ So, if you (Muhammad) are in doubt concerning that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who are reading the Book [the Taurāt (Torah) and the Injīl (Gospel)] before you…(Q. 10:94)


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