The Islamic Whale: Difference between revisions

In a lengthy hadith, a Jew tests Muhammad's knowledge on a number of questions. One of these concerns the food of the people of paradise. The word translated "the fish" is actually al-nun. Muhammad answers that they will eat the caudate lobe of liver of "al-nun" (قَالَ ‏زِيَادَةُ كَبِدِ النُّونِ). In addition they will eat a bull which grazes around paradise.

While I was standing beside the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) one of the rabbis of the Jews came and said: Peace be upon you, O Muhammad. [...]  

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The hadith (narration) by Ibn Abbas (collected by At-Tabari) is considered صحيح (sahih)<ref name="abbas"></ref>, which means it is considered to be an authentic narration in the traditional estimation of hadith. According to the tradition Ibn Abbas holds a special place in the scheme of hadith preservers, for Muhammad made du'a(prayer) for Ibn Abbas, so that Allah would teach him the true interpretation of the Qur'an. Ibn Abbas was also called ''turjuman ul-Qur'an'' (ترجمان القرآن) id est "translator of the Qur'an", because he had  such a deep knowledge about the interpretation (''tarjama'', literally translation) of the revelations.

His narration also explains why mountains are [[The Quran and Mountains|described as pegs]] in the Qur'an. It is because, according the traditional Islamic cosmology, the earth would fall off of the back of the whale without the pegs that hold it<ref>That is also supported by the tafsir Al-Jalalayn on the verse 78:7 "and the mountains pegs? with which the earth is tied down like tents are tied down with pegs the interrogative is meant as an affirmative."  

Some modern Islamic scholars attribute this story to Jewish sources, basing this idea on the fact that ibn Abbas often took and retold Jewish stories. Interestingly, there exist sahih hadiths which appear to permit exactly this sort of re-narration:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "'''Convey (my teachings)''' to the people even if it were a single sentence, and '''tell others the stories of Bani Israel (which have been taught to you)''', for it is not sinful to do so. And whoever tells a lie on me intentionally, will surely take his place in the (Hell) Fire."}}

Those scholars arguing against the validity of the biblical references often couple the foregoing hadith with another hadith from Sahih Al-Bukhari, from the chapter entitled “Do not ask the people of the Scripture about anything”:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Another important quote from Ibn Abbas himself is also found in the chapter “Do not ask the people of the Scripture about anything”, however. This narration appears to cast doubt on the idea that ibn Abbas was in the habit of taking stories from the Jews:

Narrated Ubaidullah: