Abstract:

This article deals with the approach of Islamic scholars to the hadiths in the context of one sahih hadith. Both Bukhari and Muslim narrations mention that Moses slapped the angel of death (who was in human form) and removed his eye. Then prophet Moses was given freedom of choice between life and death and chose death in his own accord. Points such as a prophet striking an the angel of death an angel becoming blind, his return without fulfilling the duty given by Allah led to the denial of this hadith. Indeed, the difficulty of conceiving such matters is evident. As far as we can see, Islamic scholars have made reasonable and succesful explanations for this hadith and they haven’t gone into denial because of logical contradiction. It is stated that there are figurative (mutashabih) elements in some hadith just like in some verses (ayat) and that they can not be fully comprehended with worldly understanding. This situation shows us methodologically that if there is concensus of scholars that a hadith is authentic, it is first of all approached with trust and submission. This is the common path followed by the twelve authors whose views on the subject are included in this article.

Keywords: