❖ Question: What Is the Authenticity of the Narration Regarding Four Living Prophets?
📚 Source: Fatāwā Amaanpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amaanpuri
❖ The Narration:
“Four Prophets are alive: Two on earth — Ḥaḍrat Khidr and Ilyās, and two in the heavens — Ḥaḍrat ʿĪsā and Idrīs.”
❖ Analysis of the Chain of Narration:
The claim regarding four prophets being alive is found in two narrations of Israelite origin (Isrā’īliyyāt) — both have severely weak chains.
✦ First Narration — Attributed to Kaʿb al-Aḥbār رحمه الله
📚 Source: Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir: 9/207
Chain Status: Severely Weak
Problems in the Chain:
① Makḥūl al-Shāmī — His hearing (samāʿ) from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār is not established.
② Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Sulaymān al-Khurāsānī — No verification of his reliability is available.
③ Abū Ḥusayn Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl bin Muḥammad al-Tamīmī — Unknown (majhūl).
④ ʿAlī bin ʿĀṣim al-Wāsiṭī — Considered weak by the majority of scholars.
✦ Second Narration — Found in Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī (22/418)
This narration is fabricated (mawḍūʿ) and Israelite in origin.
Problems in the Chain:
① Aḥmad bin Ḥasan bin Yazīd al-Qazwīnī — Not authenticated by Ibn Mājah or others.
② Saʿīd bin Abī Saʿīd al-Baṣrī — Biographical details unavailable.
③ ʿAlāʾ al-Bijlī — Majhūl al-ḥāl (unknown condition); only Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him — no other scholar authenticated him.
④ Zayd Mawlā ʿAwn al-Ṭafāwī — Identity unknown.
⑤ The individual who originally reports this event is ambiguous and unidentified (mubham wa majhūl).
❖ Final Verdict:
There is no authentic hadith from the Noble Prophet ﷺ that affirms this narration.
All reports regarding four prophets being alive — namely Khidr, Ilyās, ʿĪsā, and Idrīs عليهم السلام — are either:
- Weak (ḍaʿīf)
- Fabricated (mawḍūʿ)
- Or of Israelite origin (Isrā’īliyyāt) and lack any sound prophetic chain.
Thus, this belief has no basis in authentic Islamic sources.
وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
