Were Mice Transformed Israelites? The Hadith Explained and Refuted

This article responds to the objection raised against the hadith mentioning that a group from the Children of Israel were lost and that the Prophet ﷺ said he did not think they were transformed except into mice. The objection is usually presented as if Islam teaches that today’s mice are literally descendants of transformed humans. This is a dishonest reading because other authentic narrations clarify that Allah did not give offspring or descendants to those who were transformed.

He ﷺ said: “I do not think that Allah transformed them except into the type of mouse.”

The sign of that is that if camel milk was given to them, they would not drink it, because it was forbidden to the Children of Israel, and if sheep’s milk was placed for it, it would drink it.

“Shā’” is the plural of “shāh,” meaning sheep.

“The mouse has been transformed, and the sign of that is that sheep’s milk is placed before it and it drinks it, and camel’s milk is placed before it and it does not taste it.”

Abu Hurayrah said: So I told Ka’b.

In another narration, Ka’b said to him: “Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?”

I said: “Yes.”

He said this to me repeatedly, meaning he repeated his question many times.

Abu Hurayrah said: So I said: “Should I read the Torah?”

Meaning: do I read the Torah so that I can quote from it? I only say what I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The objection usually focuses only on this narration while ignoring the other reports that clarify the issue. This is exactly the problem: the critic shows part of the material and hides the part that destroys his own argument.

https://halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_109.html

jews turning into apes/ moneky in their own books

What is apparent from the hadith is that the Prophet ﷺ said this based on his own ijtihad and assumption before he was informed by Allah Almighty that He did not give offspring or descendants to a creature that had been transformed.

“Allah did not give offspring or descendants to a creature that has been transformed, and the apes and pigs existed before that.”

This is in Sahih Muslim and others.

This means present-day mice are not descendants of transformed Israelites. The transformed ones became extinct and did not continue through reproduction.

So the correct understanding is simple: transformation occurred as a punishment to some previous people, but those transformed beings did not produce descendants. Therefore, today’s animals are not descended from those transformed humans.

Al-Munsir, the seller of illusions and professional deceiver, is one of those who shows some evidence and conceals the rest. The evidence for that is that he did not cite the hadith that destroys his objection.

For your info: this image is connected to the Islamweb fatwa cited in the article. The point being supported is that the hadith must be read together with the clarifying narration: Allah did not give offspring or descendants to those who were transformed. Therefore, anyone presenting the “mice were transformed Israelites” report while hiding this clarification is selectively quoting and creating a false objection.

“Allah did not give offspring or descendants to the transformed, and the apes and pigs existed before that.”

Narrator: Abdullah ibn Mas’ud
Hadith scholar: Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani
Source: Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar
Page or number: 6/407
Summary of the hadith scholar’s ruling: True

Allah did not give offspring or descendants to the transformed.

The transformed people were punished, then their line ended. The animals existed before that transformation and continued as normal animals.

This is from the perspective of:

“Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

Proverbs 26:5

Is it conceivable that a human being could be transformed from flesh and blood into a boulder or pillar?

Genesis 19:26

So the issue is not transformation itself. The issue is selective outrage.

Isaiah 5:25

I wonder what effect such a text would have on the minds of those concerned.

This means that the assumption that the Children of Israel were transformed into mice — and the evidence of their refusal to drink camel milk because it was forbidden in Jewish law — may be an assumption from the noble Companion Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, not from the Prophet ﷺ.

Imam al-Daraqutni discussed the differing routes of the hadith and the issue of whether it is raised to the Prophet ﷺ or stopped at Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him.

1836 — He was asked about the hadith of Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ:

“A nation from the Children of Israel was lost, and it is not known what it did. I do not see it as anything but a mouse. Do you not see that if it finds camel milk, it does not drink it, but if it finds sheep milk, it drinks it?”

He said: There is difference of opinion about its chain of transmission.

Khalid al-Hadhdha’, Hisham ibn Hassan, and Ash’ath narrated it from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah.

There is a difference of opinion about Ayyub.

It was narrated from ‘Abd al-A’la ibn Hammad, from Hammad ibn Salamah, from Ayyub, Habib, and Hisham, from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, as a chain traceable back to the Prophet ﷺ.

Al-Hasan ibn Musa narrated it from Hammad ibn Salamah, from Habib ibn al-Shahid and Hisham, from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, as a chain traceable back to the Prophet ﷺ, and this is more likely to be correct.

Either way, the objection still fails because the separate hadith clarifies that transformed beings were not given descendants.

It is worth mentioning that there is another hadith in Al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn which apparently denies the occurrence of transformation among the Children of Israel except in the case of monkeys and pigs.

Muhammad ibn Sa’d al-‘Awfi told us:

Rawh ibn ‘Ubadah told us:

‘Awf told us:

From Abu Nadrah:

From Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him:

From the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:

“Allah did not destroy a people, nor a generation, nor a nation, and no people of a town since He sent down the Torah upon the face of the earth were afflicted with a punishment from the sky except the people of the town that was transformed into apes.”

Have you not seen the words of the Most High:

“And We had certainly given Moses the Scripture after We had destroyed the former generations as insights for the people and guidance and mercy that they might be reminded.”

Surah al-Qasas, 28:43

It is authentic according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs, and they did not narrate it.

This hadith was narrated both with a chain ending at the Prophet ﷺ and with a chain attributed through Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him.

First, the critic selectively quotes the report about mice while ignoring the hadith that clearly states Allah did not give offspring or descendants to those who were transformed.

Second, the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have clarified that apes and pigs existed before transformation, meaning the animals themselves were not created from transformed humans.

Third, if the statement about mice is understood as an assumption or ijtihad, then it is not a doctrinal claim that modern mice descend from Israelites.

Fourth, some scholars discussed whether the statement is from Abu Hurayrah himself rather than directly from the Prophet ﷺ.

Fifth, critics who mock transformation have no ground to stand on if they accept biblical passages such as Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt.

The Islamic position is not that today’s mice are descendants of transformed Israelites. Rather, transformation occurred as a punishment, and those transformed beings were not given descendants.