Section

Al-Rāzī said: “As for the reports, instances of this kind are numerous. The first is the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, quoting Allah Most High: ‘I was ill, yet you did not visit Me; I asked you for food, yet you did not feed Me; I asked you for water, yet you did not give Me water.’ No rational person doubts that these words are intended solely as figurative illustration.”

The response to this is that it displays such a lack of knowledge of the Messenger’s hadiths and of the meaning of interpretation as to lead the ignorant astray. This authentic hadith has a continuation that explains it and makes its meaning clear. In Sahīh Muslim, Anas reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Allah Most High will say on the Day of Resurrection: