The Meaning of the Hadith: It Is Not Permissible for Anyone to Say, “I Am Better Than Yunus ibn Matta”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I seek forgiveness from Allah for you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saidSahih al-Bukhari 4603, and Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) cited it in his tafsir of these verses. What is the meaning of this hadith?
Answer:
The meaning is clear: you must not rank the prophets above one another. If Yunus or another is mentioned in a way that belittles him, that is not permissible. However, if the ranking of the prophets is mentioned in the context of speaking about Allah’s blessings, there is no harm,[Al-Baqarah 2:253] [Al-Baqarah 2:253]. If this is mentioned in the context of speaking about Allah’s blessings, there is no harm. But if it is mentioned in the context of boasting, ranking, and belittling the one ranked lower, that is not permissible. This is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) , if this is in the context of belittling Yunus (peace be upon him). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, and greet the listeners.
I seek forgiveness from Allah for you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said
None has the right to say that I am better than Jonah bin Matta.
لا ينبغي لأحد أن يقول أنا خير من يونس بن متىAnswer:
The meaning is clear: you must not rank the prophets above one another. If Yunus or another is mentioned in a way that belittles him, that is not permissible. However, if the ranking of the prophets is mentioned in the context of speaking about Allah’s blessings, there is no harm,
Those messengers - some of them We caused
تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَاsome of them We caused to exceed others
بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍDo not rank me above Yunus ibn Matta,
لا تفضلوني على يونس ابن مكة،The presenter:
May Allah reward you, and greet the listeners.
Source
تفسير حزب المفصل، تفسير سورة القلم [ الآية 41 إلى آخر السورة ] — islamhouse.com (31:29)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.