Isra'iliyat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on the
Science of hadith

Terminology
Terminology
technical terms
Regarding authenticity



Other


This box: view  talk  edit

In the Science of hadith in Islamic theology Isra'iliyat اسرائیلیات (of Isra'il) is the body of hadith originating from Judeo-Christian traditions, rather than from the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1]. The Isra'iliyat are mostly non-biblical explanatory stories and traditions (in Hebrew: midrashim) giving extra information or interpretation about events or individuals recorded in the Hebrew scriptures.

Muslims classify such hadith in three categories [1]:

  • Those considered to be true because the revelation to Muhammad confirms them.
  • Those considered to be false, because the revelation to Muhammad rejects them.
  • Those not known to be either true or false.

Contents

[edit] Sunni view

A Sunni site, islamic-awareness.org, states:

We find that Wahb Ibn Munabbih and Ka`b al-Ahbar are considered as trustworthy narrators of hadith because they transmitted the Islamic traditions faithfully along with isra'iliyyat traditions. Just because they had also transmitted isra'iliyyat traditions along with the Islamic ones does not make them 'untrustworthy' or 'fabricators' of hadith because they did not attribute these isra'iliyyat traditions to the Prophet(P). Muslim scholars have rejected the isra'iliyyat traditions on the basis that they do not satisfy the critieria of truthfulness according to the above set of rules.

In a response to an accusation against Ka`b al-Ahbar, Wahb Ibn Munabbih, and others who had knowledge in the previous books and transmitted it in the Islamic literature, Dr. Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi says:

As for his saying [i.e., the critic]: "In general they [Ka`b and the others] introduced to the Muslim's creed and knowledge a lot of what had left bad affects." If [the critic] wanted to put the blame of the bad affects upon Ka`b and the others then we don't agree on this, because whatever Ka`b and the others narrated from the People of the Book they didn't say it is from the Prophet, peace be upon him, and [thus] they didn't lie to Muslims about it, but they were only reporting it as the Israelite tradition which existed in their own books. We are not obliged to believe anything of it nor we are requested to trust it...." [2]

[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Interpreting The Text
  2. ^ Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi, Al-Tafsir wa 'l-Mufassirun, Op Cit., p. 192.
  3. ^ On The Transmitters Of Isra'iliyyat (Judeo-Christian Material)

[edit] External links

Languages