What is the degree of authenticity of the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: (Musa (peace be upon him) struck the eye of the Angel of Death, blinding him)?

The questioner : The questioner says: From Abu Hurayrah, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . I heard one of the scholars weaken this hadith, saying: The smell of the Isra'iliyyat emanates from this hadith; so how do we respond to them? And is it permissible to call the Angel of Death "Azrael"? And 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? And did Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) 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 popped out his eye.
The other branch is whether it is authentic that the Angel of Death is called Azrael, as is common among many people.
We will answer this second part because the answer is brief, so that we may return to answering 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 answering the first part of the question, which is the hadith of the Angel of Death and the weakening of it by those scholars who weakened it:
Before the answer, I want to remind you of a scientific principle acknowledged even by those who are not Muslim. This scientific principle is: 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, is not permitted to speak if he is an exegete; because medicine is not his science. Just as this specialist doctor is not permitted to speak about exegesis or jurisprudence or anything else; because if this and that person speak outside their specialization, they have followed what they have no knowledge of, and they have contradicted the aforementioned Qur'anic text. I think this is one of the matters where the old Arabic proverb can be mentioned: "This is a matter in which two do not differ, and two goats do not butt heads in it," meaning: It is not permissible to speak in a certain science except the specialists. If this is an established matter—and it is—let us return to this hadith or others. Who speaks about it? The doctor, for example? The answer: Of course not. The alchemist, for example? The answer: No. Many, many questions approach the truth. The exegete? The answer: No. The jurist? The answer: No. So who speaks? It is the scholar of hadith. And the scholars of hadith "were"—as it was said:
When they were counted as few, *** Today they are less than few.
Therefore, it is not permissible for students of knowledge to be emboldened by a word attributed to a scholar whose identity and specialization we do not know, if he says: Such-and-such a hadith is weak. This is a rule we must adhere to always and forever. And among the wonders of the calamities that have befallen the nation, due to heedlessness of the scientific principles 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 they verify such a Qur'anic text that obliges Muslims to refer to the specialists. For example, if one of us or one of our dependents is afflicted with a certain disease, he does not go to any doctor; rather, first of all, he asks about the specialist in that disease, then he continues asking, searching, and verifying about the skilled specialist in that disease. Only then does he go to him and present himself or his loved one to him. As for what concerns religion, the matter has become chaos with no system. That is because people today, whenever they see a person musing around some jurisprudential issues, or some Qur'anic verses, or Prophetic hadiths, assume that he is the scholar of his time! So they direct their questions to him, and they fall into the prohibited thing mentioned in the first hadith, which is his saying (peace be upon him): .
After this, I return to say: Any person who speaks outside his specialization is not permitted to do so, especially if it becomes clear that his speech contradicts the specialists in the science in which he spoke without knowledge. So, the hadith of Musa (peace be upon him) striking the Angel of Death is a hadith narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim in their "Sahihayn" 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 "Sahihayn".
So the answer now requires us to speak about more than one issue:
The first issue: It becomes clear after this hadith is recorded in the "Sahihayn" 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 empower and judge by their minds—if I do not say their desires!—in ruling on authentic hadiths that they are weak, and perhaps they say: They are fabricated. What is the evidence for what they claimed of weakness and fabrication? It is their judging by their minds and following their desires, ; 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 its custom to remove what may occur in the minds of some as a difficulty.
Now, after we have clarified that the one who weakened the hadith is the weak one, because he first contradicted the two Imams who compiled the two books known as "the Sahihs," which, by the consensus of the scholars of the Sunnah, are the most authentic books after the Book of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)—"Sahih al-Bukhari" and "Sahih Muslim"—and not only that, but the Ummah accepted them; therefore, no one among the hadith scholars who were at the level of al-Bukhari and Muslim criticized any hadith that came in "the Sahihs"; so these hadiths are all certainly established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family); therefore, we give no weight to anyone who weakens such a hadith, no matter who he is, and no matter how much knowledge people think he has.
As for the difficulty described in the question: how does Moses (peace be upon him) strike the Angel of Death?
The answer—and this is a reference to what I said about these people not studying the Sunnah—the answer is: In a narration in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" with a sound chain, it is said: . So when the Angel of Death came to Musa, he said to him: Answer your Lord. He did not come with the sign that would make Musa (peace be upon him) realize that the one saying to him: is an Angel sent by Allah; so he came to him in the form of a human being. And any one of us, if a person came to him and said: ; what would be his stance toward him?! It would be the stance of Musa (peace be upon him) specifically; because he is encroaching on the duty of a noble Angel in which the other angels do not share with him. So how can a person approach a human being like him and say: Surrender your soul?! So what did he do but pop his eye, strike him, slap him, and pop his eye. This is a natural matter, and the doubt is thrown away and removed from its root and branch when we remember this other narration: . Therefore, you see in the continuation of the hadith that when the Angel of Death complained of his matter to Allah and said to him: . When the Angel returned with this proof to Musa (peace and blessings be upon him), he said to him: . So he took his soul at that hour.
Why did he submit...
...
That he is from the people of the Sunnah, or that he is Salafi in methodology and creed; is it necessary that every one of these claimants be truthful in what he says, and that his reality matches what he says? Perhaps, perhaps. So the issue is not a claim of correct affiliation, or a claim of affiliation to a sect with a new name; rather, the matter concerns the attempt of every Muslim to observe the sign that the Messenger (peace be upon him) set for the successful sect: that one be upon what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon. This is the decisive ruling in the answer to this question, and naturally there is a lot, and a very lot, of room for detail, but the time now is not a place for it.
Yes.

The questioner : ... .