# Did Yasir Qadhi himself say a hadith came into Islam from Jewish lore?

*Ibn Kathir on Gog and Magog as Israelite lore via Abu Hurayra: 'this hypocrisy'*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/24/
- Date: 2021-03-02 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #204 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:50:26–1:53:29)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OOltqtPTw&t=6626s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/

**Topics:** Dajjal, Mahdi and the signs; Narrator criticism; Exchanges with Yasir Qadhi

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says Qadhi is inconsistent: he calls Israelite origins for the return preposterous, yet with Ibn Kathir firmly believes the Gog and Magog report came from Israelite lore through Abu Hurayra's circle.

## Longer summary

Qadhi says in the clip that the great scholars of the past believed in Gog and Magog, but that he was relieved to find classical scholars who problematised the hadith, saying it has a hidden defect and is not from the Prophet. Mufti Abu Layth stresses that this is a hadith in Sunni sources, established by their standards, and Qadhi goes on to say it might come from the Israelites, since Abu Hurayra listened to Ka'b [?], the son of a rabbi who narrated Israelite material, so that a student of Abu Hurayra assumed it to be from the Prophet; Qadhi says this is Ibn Kathir's view and what he firmly believes. Mufti stops the clip to ask whether he imagined Qadhi a moment ago calling it preposterous that Abu Hurayra or others introduced Jewish beliefs into Islam, and calls it hypocrisy. He notes that Qadhi then problematises the Gog and Magog report on the basis of reason, logic, geography and science.

## Sources and names cited

- Yasir Qadhi
- Ibn Kathir
- Abu Hurayra
- Ka'b al-Ahbar [?]
- Israiliyyat
- Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:50:26–1:53:29)

[1:49:45] now by the way we have bizarre stuff in our books anyway so what if it's written but let's go perhaps perhaps this notion of a living tribe of is not correct keep in mind that all the scholars of the past the dawns [Music] his jesus video the islam

[1:50:25] the greatest authority in islam imna even all of them believed in this this ya judah mahjud but he's about to say well this is actually this on big problem you know i have to say i was relieved to find classical scholars some of them did problematize this hadith so the fact that he found one or two scholars disagreeing gave him great relief amongst them who said that this tradition this tradition seems to be uh it's an ill or a hidden defect that it is not

[1:51:04] from the prophet salam now pay attention here here is a tradition in islam with a hadith to the prophet sallallahu alaihi the hadith is in in our sunni sources it is there it is established according to them but what are they about to say about that very hadith what are they about to say it might be coming from the israelites

[1:51:38] was the son of a rabbi and he would narrate israelite and would listen to him and narrate and would listen to him and narrate though he switched sides you know what this one a moment ago didn't well is this am i imagining things or did i just a moment ago hear ya saying it is preposterous to assume that abu hurairah or other people

[1:52:17] introduce jewish beliefs into islam of islam is saying used to take from kabbalah son of a rabbi introduce the belief oh i don't expect this hypocrisy you know this hypocrisy let's go back people and one of the students of abu huraira assumed it to be from the prophet sallallahu alaihi and this is ibn kathir saying this not me so he said perhaps this is from the israelite and this is what i firmly believe simply see so

[1:52:56] not only does he say he himself believes that these beliefs came in through jewish beliefs about gog and magog and people accepted them fully because it is highly problematic to pause now note that here he's going to problematize this whole thing based on what based on reason reason and based logic based on geography and science that how we understand the human body to work

[1:53:28] was it that there are billions of people somewhere in today's world clawing away so honestly tell you this is something that i am involved in many discussions of this nature with many people and what not and one of my scholarly so he says that this to posit this is as far as he's concerned it's just kind of ludicrous to assume that a bunch of people are under the earth somewhere millions or a billion of them just living there this is ridiculous why because we can see the world we can see the earth this is just crazy he then goes on to

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment b1OOltqtPTw/s/24. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/24/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.