Mistranslation of hadith of Descent of Messiah by non-Ahmadis
Introduction
Non-Ahmadis are known to mistranslate Quran so they can mislead the masses. Sadly, this is not only limited to Quran but also Ahadith. To counter the arguments of Ahmadi Muslims, they also change the translation of ahadith such as this one:
بَيْنَا أَنَا نَائِمٌ أَطُوفُ بِالْكَعْبَةِ، فَإِذَا رَجُلٌ آدَمُ سَبْطُ الشَّعَرِ يَنْطُفُ ـ أَوْ يُهَرَاقُ ـ رَأْسُهُ مَاءً قُلْتُ مَنْ هَذَا قَالُوا ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ. ثُمَّ ذَهَبْتُ أَلْتَفِتُ، فَإِذَا رَجُلٌ جَسِيمٌ أَحْمَرُ جَعْدُ الرَّأْسِ أَعْوَرُ الْعَيْنِ، كَأَنَّ عَيْنَهُ عِنَبَةٌ طَافِيَةٌ قَالُوا هَذَا الدَّجَّالُ. أَقْرَبُ النَّاسِ بِهِ شَبَهًا ابْنُ قَطَنٍ
Narrated `Abdullah bin `Umar:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said. “While I was sleeping, I saw myself (in a dream) performing Tawaf around the Ka`ba. Behold, I saw a reddish-white man with lank hair, and water was dropping from his head. I asked, “Who is this?’ They replied, ‘The son of Mary.’ Then I turned my face to see another man with a huge body, red complexion and curly hair and blind in one eye. His eye looked like a protruding out grape. They said (to me), He is Ad-Dajjal.” The Prophet (ﷺ) added, “The man he resembled most is Ibn Qatan, a man from the tribe of Khuza`a. “
[Sahih al-Bukhari 7128]
Here, the skin color of the latter-day Messiah is mistranslated to “reddish-white” rather than “brown”. This is to counter the argument that the latter-day Messiah is different from Isa (AS). While Isa (AS) is described of a reddish complexion, the latter-day Messiah is described to be of a brown complexion.
Refutation
Firstly, in other ahadith, they have translated both words correctly. Isa (AS) in the heavens is described as:
فَأَمَّا عِيسَى فَأَحْمَرُ
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “I saw Moses, Jesus and Abraham (on the night of my Ascension to the heavens). Jesus was of red complexion, curly hair and a broad chest. Moses was of brown complexion, straight hair and tall stature as if he was from the people of Az-Zutt.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 3438]
While the latter-day Messiah is described as:
رَجُلٌ آدَمُ
The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned the Masih Ad-Dajjal in front of the people saying, Allah is not one-eyed while Masih Ad-Dajjal is blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a bulging out grape. While sleeping near the Ka`ba last night, I saw in my dream a man of brown color the best one can see amongst brown color and his hair was long that it fell between his shoulders. His hair was lank and water was dribbling from his head and he was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men while circumambulating the Ka`ba. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ They replied, ‘This is Jesus, son of Mary.’ Behind him I saw a man who had very curly hair and was blind in the right eye, resembling Ibn Qatan (i.e. an infidel) in appearance. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of a person while performing Tawaf around the Ka`ba. I asked, ‘Who is this? ‘They replied, ‘The Masih, Ad-Dajjal.’ “
More such ahadith that describe both, Isa (AS) and the latter day Messiah, differently can be found in this article1ADD ARTICLE LATER with a detailed description.
Secondly, even as per Arabic lexicons, آدَمُ and أَحْمَر are separate words with completely different meanings:
applied to a human being, آدَمُ signifies tawny; or dark-complexioned;
[Lanex Lexicon]
It becameأَحْمَر [or red]; (Mṣb, Ḳ;) as alsoاحمارّ↓: (Ḳ:) both these verbs signify the same: (Ṣ:) or the former signifies it was red, constantly, not changing from one state to another: and↓ the latter, it became red, accidentally, not remaining so;
[Lanex Lexicon]
Conclusion
This argument isn’t even the main argument to prove that the latter-day Messiah is different than Isa (AS). It is one of the many but the non-Ahmadis still have to mistranslate to convince the masses against us. Read the detailed article explaining how “Ibn Maryam” will descend.