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Is a person trustworthy who narrates a hadith from a man "whose head is like a donkey's head," and is it possible that he is a jinn, a devil, or a liar?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The story of the Sheikh whose face turned into a donkey's face due to competing with the Imam in raising his head is mentioned to deter from competing with the Imam, and not to prove the permissibility of acquiring knowledge from someone whose face is that of a donkey. This threat of a donkey's head came in an authentic Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

As for the story of Yahya Al-Zammi with Iblis in a dream, it is not to be rejected in terms of its meaning, as Iblis appointed Bishr Al-Muraysi to spread the call for the creation of the Qur'an. However, one should not equate in credibility an authentic prophetic Hadith with a dream vision. The Hadith is to be taken as evidence, while a dream vision can be considered for reassurance if its meaning is sound. Whatever perplexes a Muslim from the verses and Hadiths, he must submit to it and ask the people of knowledge about it.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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