"If Jesus Were Alive He Would Have to Follow Me"

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم

According to the exegete, Ibn Kathir (rahimahullah):

وفي بعض الأحاديث [ له ] : لو كان موسى وعيسى حيين لما وسعهما إلا اتباعي

In some Ahadith (from the Prophet): “If Moses and Jesus were alive they would have no option except to follow me.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir v.2 p.68):

Similarly, the Grenadan exegete, Abu Hayyan, copied this Hadith in his tafsir (Bahr ul-Muhit v.6 p.139):

And it has been repeated by Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya (Madarij us-Salikin v.2 p.496):

Finally, Mulla Ali Qari has attributed this saying to the Prophet (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam):

لو كان عيسى حيّاً ما وسعه  إلا اتَّباعي

“If Jesus was alive he would have no option but to follow me.” (Sharh Fiqh ul-Akbar p.325):

 

Some editions of Sharh Fiqh ul-Akbar have altered the text, replacing Jesus with Moses. But this is clearly a distortion since the context of the quote is regarding Jesus and not Moses.