Children of Isaac or Ishmael? a critical examination of Abu Hurayrah’s narration on the conquest of Constantinople
In his Sahih, Imam Muslim narrated that Abu Hurayrah spoke about the conquest of Constantinople based on a prophetic tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in which he said: “The Hour will not rise until seventy thousand people from among the descents of Isaac conquer Constantinople.” Some H...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IDOSI Publications
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/27780/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/27780/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/27780/1/Children_of_Isaac_or_Ishmael.pdf |
| Summary: | In his Sahih, Imam Muslim narrated that Abu Hurayrah spoke about the conquest of Constantinople
based on a prophetic tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in which he said: “The Hour will not rise
until seventy thousand people from among the descents of Isaac conquer Constantinople.” Some Hadith
interpreters were confused on the use of “Sons of Isaac” arguing that the true phrase must be “The Sons of
Ishmael” instead. This they argued is inferred from other Prophetic traditions who describe the army conquering
Constantinople as being from the city of the Prophet, the Medina which implies that the conquering army is
rather Arabs, the descent of Ishmael. In this paper we seek to discuss this confusion and clarify the points of
dispute around the proper understanding of this tradition. Our inquiry shows the confusion is only superficial
and there is no conflict between these different traditions. Such a result implies the unnecessary undermining
of the position of Imam Muslim in his hadith collection. This research discusses the doubt some Hadith
commentators of Sahih Muslim find and their conclusion that the memory of some Hadith narrators skipped
a word. We shall highlight the context of the Hadith, examine the question of doubt and position, discuss the
scholarly views on this question and see what preferable and most reasonable answer should solve the
question under study |
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