15. THE ISRĀ’ĪLIYYĀT IN THE COMMENTARY OF THE QUR’ĀN AND THE ḤADĪTH (4)

15. THE ISRĀ’ĪLIYYĀT IN THE COMMENTARY OF

THE QUR’ĀN AND THE ḤADĪTH (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 (ﷺ) said,

لَا تُصَدِّقُوا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ وَلَا تُكَذِّبُوهُمْ وَ قُولُوا آمَنَّا

بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا... (رواه البخاري)

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 (ﷺ) was 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:

فَإِنْ كُنْتَ فِي شَكٍّ مِمَّا أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ فَاسْأَلِ الَّذِينَ

يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ... (يونس:94)

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)

          Qatādah said that when the Prophet (ﷺ) received this revelation he said, لَا أَشُكَ وَلَا أَسْأل (“I do not doubt and I shall not ask”). According to Tha‘lab and al-Mubarrad the verse means: “Say Muhammad to the disbeliever, the idol worshipper, ‘if you are in doubt concerning the Qur’ān, then ask those who are reading the Book before you,” namely, the Jews who have converted to Islam, like ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sallām, as idol worshippers believed that the Jews were more knowledgeable.

Another interpretation is that the verse was directed to the Prophet (ﷺ), and the term الشَّكُّ (al-shakk, “doubt”) originally means الضِّيق (al-ḍiq) “anguish, depression”), so that the verse means, “If you are annoyed over their disbelief be patient, and ask people who are reading the Book before you, they would tell you how patient the prophets before you they were over the offence of their people, and the consequence of their offense.”

          Allah also says in the Qur’ān,

وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَسْتَ مُرْسَلًا قُلْ كَفَى بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا

 بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمْ وَمَنْ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ الْكِتَابِ (الرعد:43)

And those who disbelieved, say: “You (O Muhammad)

 are not a Messenger.” Say: “Sufficient as a witness between

 me and you is Allah and those too which  have knowledge of

the Scripture (such as Abdullah bin Sallam and other Jews

and Christians who embraced Islam).” (Q. 13:43)

It was reported that ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sallām had said that the verse was revealed concerning him. This is also the view of Mujāhid and Qatādah. Ibn Kathīr called it a strange statement, as the verse was revealed in Makkah, whereas ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sallām converted to Islam when the Prophet (ﷺ) came to Madinah. He said that the most obvious meaning was that of Ibn ‘Abbās who said that they were the Jews and the Christians, including their scholars who found the characteristics of the Prophet (ﷺ) in their Book.

          There are also several ḥadīths stating that the Prophet (ﷺ) allowed the Muslims to report the isrā’iliyyāt, such as:  

بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةً ، وَحَدِّثُوا عَنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَلاَ حَرَجَ ، وَمَنَ

كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ )رواه البخاري و أحمد)

Convey from me even an Ayah of the Qur’ān; relate

 traditions from Banu Israel, and there is no restriction

on that; but he who deliberately forges a lie against

 me let him have his abode in the Hell.

 (Reported by al-Bukhārī and Ahmad)

          The  Prophet (ﷺ) allowed Muslims to relate only what they know that they are true about the Israelites, and are not allowed to invent stories about him for whatever reason, even in praising and  glorifying him, as lying is prohibited in Islam. Therefore, it is not allowed to relate isrā’iliyyāt contradictory to Islamic law or reason. But those we do not know whether they are true or false, Muslims are to keep silent of them to avoid denying what  is true or believing in what is false.

          There are many Qur’ānic verses telling Muslims to ask the People of the Book for confirmation, such as:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ

إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ (الأنبياء:7)

And We sent not before you (O Muhammad) but

 men of whom We revealed. So ask the people of the

Reminder [Scriptures – the Taurāt (Torah), the Injīl

 (Gospel) if you do not know. (Q. 21:7)

It means that as Allah said that He had sent before Prophet Muhammad human beings only to be His messengers, then they can ask the people of the Book, the Jews and the Christians, whether those who were sent to them were human beings or angels, and they would confirm that messengers had been human beings only, not angels, as some disbelievers rejected a prophet being a human being. Allah said,

ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُ كَانَتْ تَأْتِيهِمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالُوا أَبَشَرٌ يَهْدُونَنَا

 فَكَفَرُوا وَتَوَلَّوْا وَاسْتَغْنَى اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ (التغابن:6)

That was because there came to them their Messengers

 with clear proofs (signs), but they disbelieved and turned away

(from the truth). But Allah was not in need (of them). Allah is

 Rich (Free of all needs), Worthy of all praise. (Q. 64:6)

The people of the Torah and the Gospel who converted to Islam were called أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ (people of the Reminder) because they used to tell the stories of prophet unknown to the Arabs. The Makkan idolaters used to ask verification from them concerning the Prophet in their Book (Torah and Gospel).

According to Ibn Zayd the term أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ means “people of the Qur’ān”, as the term   الذِّكْرِis also is applied to the Qur’ān, when Allah said, إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ (الحجر:9)   “Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur’ān) and surely We will guard it (from corruption) (Q. 15:9). Ali r.a. himself was reported to have said نَحْنُ أَهْلُ الذِّكْرِ, meaning نَحْنُ أَهْلِ الْقُرْآنِ, "We are people of the Qur’ān”.

The Qur’ān itself mentioned many stories about the Israelites and other people of the past, such as: the story when Allah ordered the followers of Prophet Moses to slaughter a cow (Q. 2:67-73), and when they were ordered to enter the Holy Land (Q. 5:2-26); the story of Qābīl (Cain) and Hābīl (Abel) (Q. 5:27-31); and when the Ḥawāriyyūn (disciples of Prophet ‘Īsā (Jesus) a.s. asked him to ask Allah to send them a banquet from heaven (Q. 5:112-115).

          The Prophet (ﷺ) himself told many stories of people of the past, such as the story of Jurayj (George) among the Children of Israel, narrated by Abū Hurayrah r.a. as follows:

          None spoke in the cradle but three: (the first was) 'Īsā

 (Jesus), (the second was), a man from the Israelites (Children

 of Israel) called Jurayj. While he was offering his prayers, his

 mother came and called him. He said   (to himself), ‘Shall I 

answer her or keep on praying?’ (He went on praying) and

did not answer her. His mother said, "O Allah! Do not let him

 die till he sees the faces of prostitutes." So while he was in

 his hermitage, a lady came and sought to seduce him, but he refused. So she went to a shepherd and presented herself to

 him to commit illegal sexual intercourse with her and then

 later she gave birth to a child and claimed that it belonged

 to Jurayj . The people, therefore, came to him and dismantled

 his hermitage and expelled him out of it and abused him.

 Juraij performed ablution, offered prayer, and then came to

 the child and said, ‘O child! Who is your father?’ The child 

replied, ‘the shepherd.’ (After hearing this) the people said,

 ‘We shall rebuild your hermitage of gold,’ but he said, 'No, of

 nothing but mud.' (The third was the hero of the following story).

 A lady from the Israelites (Children of Israel) was nursing her 

child at her breast when a handsome rider passed by her. 

She said, ‘O Allah! Make my child like him.’  On that the child

left her breast, and facing the rider said 'O Allah! Do not make 

me like him.’ The child then started to suck her breast again.

 (Abu Hurayrah r.a. further said, "As if I were now looking at

 the Prophet s.a.w.  sucking his finger (in way of 

demonstration).” After a while the people passed by, with

a lady slave and she (i.e. the child's mother) said, 'O Allah!

 Do not make my child like this (slave girl)! On that the child

 left her breast and said, 'O Allah! Make me like her.' When

 she asked why, thechild replied, 'the rider is one of the tyrants

 while thisslave girl is falsely accused of theft and illegal

 sexual intercourse." (Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim)

          The order and permission of Allah to ask the People of the Book is limited to what has remained the truth, not to what has been distorted and corrupted of which Muslims are not allowed to relate. These stories, either from the Qur’ān or from the Prophet (ﷺ) are true from Allah, related for purposes, not just as pastime, amusement, and entertainment. Allah says:

لَقَدْ كَانَ فِي قَصَصِهِمْ عِبْرَةٌ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ مَا كَانَ حَدِيثًا يُفْتَرَى وَلَكِنْ تَصْدِيقَ

الَّذِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَتَفْصِيلَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ (يوسف:111)

Indeed in their stories, there is a lesson for men of 

understanding. It (the Qur’ān) is not a forged statement

 but a confirmation of (Allah’s existing Books) which

 were before it [i.e., the Taurāt (the Torah), the Injīl (the

Gospel) and other Scriptures of Allah] and a detailed 

explanation of everything and a guide and a mercy

 for a people who believe (Q. 12:111)

          The Prophet (ﷺ) prohibited his companions from asking the people of the Book was at the early period of Islam and before the establishment of Islamic law, in order to keep it from being confused with Jewish thinking and beliefs. After the establishment of Islamic faith and laws, he allowed it. Moreover, the companions such as Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ‘Umar, and Ibn ‘Abbās asked the early converted Jews, such as Ka‘b al-Aḥbār and ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sallām to know some details of particular stories or incidents, not about laws and beliefs.  

Contemporary Muslim scholars    say that it would be better for mufassirīn (commentators of the Qur’ān) to avoid completely the isrā’iliyyāt which are rejected to be genuine, stories which are not known whether they are genuine or fabricated.  Otherwise, including them as commentary of the Qur’ān would mislead people thinking that they are genuine, and therefore, to maintain the purity of the Qur’ān, such stories should be excluded in the commentary of the Qur’ān.  

                                                (Turner, 11  August, 2017)

المراجع:

المكتبة الشاملة

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310/922(    

تفسير القرطبى (611 - 671 هـ / 1214 - 1273 م(            

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774/ (1373

الذهبي, الدكتور محمد حسين. الإسرائيليات في التفسير و الحديث. القاهرة: مكتبة وهبة, 1411هـ ـ 1990 م.

http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=88847