‘Had it not been for Bani Israel, meat would not decay ...’

4-4-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Bismillah. Assalaam 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh. May Allah bless you my dear brothers. Please provide an explanation to the hadith, wherein Abu Huraira (RAdiyALlah anh) narrates that the Prophet (salAllah 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "Had it not been for Bani Israeel (Children of Israel) meat would not decay, and were it not for Hawa (Eve), women would not betray their husbands" [Collected in Sahih Bukhari] BaarakAllah feekum. Wassalaam
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

This Hadeeth is authentic; it was recorded by Al-Bukhari and Muslim. As regards its meaning, An-Nawawi said about the interpretation of the saying of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ): "Had it not been for Hawaaa' (Eve), women would never betray their husbands.” Al-Qaadhi said: “The meaning of this Hadeeth is that she was the mother of the daughters of Aadam; so they resembled her, and they inherited from her what happened to her in the account of the tree with Iblees (Satan) - he seduced her into eating from the tree and lured her, so she told Aadam about the tree and, as a result, he ate from it.....As regards the saying of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ): "Were it not for the Children of Israel, food would not become rotten and meat would not decay…” The scholars said: “It means that when Allaah sent down manna and quails to the Children of Israel, Allaah prohibited them from storing it, but they stored it; so it went bad and rotted, and this has continued since then.”

Allaah Knows best.

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