Stumbled across this on my feed today: a great example of how the...

Stumbled across this on my feed today: a great example of how the isnāds of even the most authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) ḥadīth often conceal just as much as they reveal. Though attributed to the prophet Muḥammad with no mention of Jesus, it clearly comes from Matthew 25.

I should say that I always admire how eloquent these early Arabic 'translations' of biblical texts are -- often the Arabic is FAR more beautiful and elegant than modern Arabic translation!

This hadith is from Basra, so it likely originates in S. Iraq. If I'd hazard a guess, I'd say that it's adapted from the Syriac translation, the Peshitta. Note ܘܨܗܝܬ ܘܠܐ ܐܫܩܝܬܘܢܢܝ and اسْتَسْقَيْتُكَ فَلَمْ تَسْقِنِي.