First: Is the disagreement he imagines a “respectable disagreement,” or is it a disagreement that carries no weight?! For the dissenter is not one of the respected scholars! That is why you did not dare to name him! Perhaps he is one of the Kharijites or the Shi‘ites who impugn the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—especially the narrator of this hadith, Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him.
Second: It is possible that the disputant to whom you referred is yourself; in that case, your disagreement is all the more unworthy of consideration—as clear as the sun in broad daylight!
He then said: “The hadith has an authentic chain of transmission, but its text raises doubt, since it implies that Moses hated death and did not love to meet Allah...” and the rest of his drivel!
I say: It is with such a perverse understanding that this man rejects the hadiths of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him! Nor does he stop there; he also rejects the view of all the scholars who understood it and explained it correctly, and who refuted people like him among those driven by their whims, who misunderstand the hadiths and then reject them. In reality, they are rejecting only their own ignorance, whereas the hadiths are free of it, praise be to Allah. Here is an example: the hadith explicitly states the opposite of what he attributed to Moses, peace be upon him—namely, Moses’s words: “Then now, from nearby.” Yet the man deliberately overlooks this, clinging instead to the slap mentioned at the beginning, without considering the end of the account. He is like one who rejects Allah’s saying, “So woe to those who pray,” on the claim that it contradicts the verses commanding prayer, while ignoring what follows: “those who are heedless of their prayer.”
That is from one perspective.
From another perspective, the man based his rejection of the hadith on his claim that Moses, peace be upon him, knew that he was the Angel of Death when he slapped him! This is further evidence of his utter ignorance and his disregard for the words of the scholars that he himself quoted (p. 28):