What is the degree of authenticity of the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (that Musa, peace be upon him, struck the Angel of Death in the eye and blinded him)?

The questioner : The questioner asks about Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I heard one of the scholars weaken this hadith and say that the smell of Isra'iliyyat emanates from this hadith. How do we respond to him? Is it permissible for us to call the Angel of Death Azrael? Is there an authentic narration that his name is Azrael? And how is it permissible for a Prophet to strike an angel, knowing that the Angel of Death is severe? Did Allah, Glorified and Exalted, permit Musa, peace be upon him, to do so?

The Shaykh : This question has two branches. The first branch concerns the hadith of Musa, peace be upon him, striking the Angel until he blinded him, and the other branch is whether it is authentic that the Angel of Death is Azrael, as is common among many people. We answer this second part by saying that the answer is brief, so we will return to the answer for the first part. It is not authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at all to name the Angel of Death Azrael. The names Jibril, Mikail, and Israfil have come in many hadiths, and this is established. But naming the Angel of Death Azrael has no basis in the Sunnah, let alone in the Noble Qur'an. We return to the answer for the first part of the question, which is the hadith of the Angel of Death and the weakening of it by some scholars. Before the answer, I want to remind you of a scientific rule that is acknowledged even by those who are not Muslim. This scientific rule is that it is not permissible for one who is ignorant of a science to speak about it, because it contradicts texts from the Book and the Sunnah. Among this is the saying of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He: So the one who wants to speak about medicine, for example, may speak if he is an interpreter, because medicine is not part of his knowledge. Just as this specialist doctor in his profession is not allowed to speak about interpretation or jurisprudence or other matters, because if this one and that one speak outside their specialization, they have spoken of what they have no knowledge of and have contradicted the previous Qur'anic text. I think this is one of the matters where the old Arabic proverb can be mentioned: "This is a matter on which there is no disagreement, and no two camels butt heads in it", meaning that it is not permissible to speak about a science except the specialists. If this is an established matter, then so is this. We return to this hadith or others of those in which, for example, the doctor speaks. The answer is, of course, no. The alchemist, for example? The answer is, for example, many and many questions. We approach the truth. The interpreter? The answer is no. The jurist? The answer is no. So who speaks? Only the scholar of hadith. And the scholars of hadith were, as it was said, when they were few, they became today fewer than few. Therefore, it is not permissible for students of knowledge to get involved in a word transmitted from a scholar whose identity and specialization we do not know. If he says "such and such a hadith is weak," this is a rule that we must always or ever adhere to. And among the wonders of the calamities that have befallen the Ummah, due to negligence of the scientific rules scattered in the Book and the Sunnah, is that they distance themselves from them completely. And when it comes to what concerns themselves, you find them verifying such a Qur'anic text that obligates Muslims to refer to the specialists. For example, if one of us or one of our relatives is afflicted with a disease, he does not go to any doctor, but first of all, he asks about the specialist for that disease, then he continues the question, search, and verification about the skilled specialist in that disease. Only then does he go to him and present himself or... to him. But as for what concerns religion, the matter has become chaos with no system. That is because people today, whenever they see a person who sings around some jurisprudential issues or around some Qur'anic verses or Prophetic hadiths, they think he is the scholar of his time! So they direct their questions to him and fall into the prohibition mentioned in the first hadith, which is his saying, peace be upon him: After this, I return to say that any person who speaks outside his specialization is not allowed to do so, especially if it is revealed that his speech contradicts the specialists in the science in which he spoke without knowledge. The hadiths of Musa, peace be upon him, striking the Angel of Death. The hadith was narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Our Prophet, may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, said: This is the text of the hadith in the two Sahihs. The answer now requires us to speak about more than one issue. The first issue is that it becomes clear, after this hadith is recorded in the two Sahihs, that the one who weakened it is the weak one, because he spoke without knowledge. And in my opinion, this weakener is one of those many people who wield and judge with their minds, if not their desires, in judging authentic hadiths as weak, and perhaps they say they are fabricated. What is the evidence for what they claimed of weakness and fabrication? It is their judging with their minds and following their desires. That is because faith has weakened in the hearts of many people, even among those who may claim affiliation with knowledge. This is from one side, and from another side, they have not studied the Sunnah with a conscious, comprehensive study of the paths of the hadith, which is usually the case that it removes what may occur in the hearts of some people as a problem.