This page began as a list of parallels between rabbinic literature and hadith texts, but has now slightly expanded to include parallels between hadith and a variety of other earlier sources as well, such as with the Bible (separated into New and Old Testaments), and then other literature more generally, although the bulk of parallels listed are still with rabbinic texts. If you find a hadith that has a parallel with a pre-Islamic text and it's not mentioned below, please send it to me so that I can add it!
Huge thanks to @IanCook321, @yosef_akiva and @hadithworks who have done a lot of the legwork in identifying the parallels below. In terms of actual resources out there which compile such parallels (other than this one which is, to my knowledge, the best and most comprehensive out there so far), see Levi Jacober's PhD thesis from 1935, titled "The traditions of Bukhari and their aggadic parallels" (link to full thesis), as well as this new, albeit briefer, blog post by Bilal Muhammad. In the future, I hope to help create some statistics and/or visuals to help convey some of the data below, for example, the proportion of parallels that go back to rabbinic sources, to biblical sources, to Christian literature, etc.
All entries are in the following format:
Short description
Rabbinic text:
Hadith:
Credit/source:
Parallels with rabbinic texts
Sahih al-Bukhari
The righteous (Muslims, Israel) are like a palm tree
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pg. 94
God's mercy overcomes God's anger
Rabbinic text: Berakhot 7a
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 3194
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pg. 94
The sun asks permission from God to move and rests below God's Throne
Rabbinic text: Leviticus Rabbah 31, Sanhedrin 91b
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 3199
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pg. 118
Other parallels: the tradition of the sun prostrating/bowing to God is also found in the Syriac Alexander Legend, which says that when the sun sets, "it bows down before God, its Creator". Credit: Sean Anthony.
A tree in Paradise that is the length of a one/five hundred year journey
Demons are stopped by a barrier of fire/flames when trying to eavesdrop on heaven
Rabbinic text: Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 4921
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 114-118
The taste of fruits
Rabbinic text: Leviticus Rabbah 30
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 5020, Sahih al-Bukhari 5059
Credit/source: (1) https://twitter.com/hadithworks/status/1707761263768461429 (2) Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 146-147
Helpful graphic for the parallel
Do not walk outside during the night because that is when there are bounds of demons out
Rabbinic text: Pesachim 112b
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 5623
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pg. 110
Wipe with your left hand, not the right, after defecation
If someone is good, God gives them afflictions out of love
Rabbinic text: Berakhot 5a
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 5645
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 102-103
Black cumin as a generalist herbal medicine
Rabbinic text: Berakhot 40a; Tractate Kallah 3
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 5687
Credit/source: Multiple commenters on this thread and one in this tweet.
Note: Black cumin can also be found in many ancient Greek texts. According to one user, "black cumin is one of the famous ancient herbs used in oriental antiquity for its healing and cooking properties" (see full comment here). The hadith has likely adopted this tradition from Near Eastern folk medicine more generally.
Put on your right shoe first, take off your left shoe first
Other parallels to this in: the Zoroastrian Gayōmard (Article 2), Apocalypse of Abraham 23:4-5, Questions of Bartholomew 1:21, Book of Bartholomew 14:1, Leviticus Rabbah 14:1; 18:2.
The most righteous generations were the earliest ones
Rabbinic text: Jerusalem Talmud Demai 1.3
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 6429
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels
What Helps You When Dead? Not Wealth, Not Kin—Just Your Deeds
Rabbinic text: Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 34:8
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 6514
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 266-267.
Those in Paradise will eat from Behemoth and Leviathan
The five secrets (keys) of information unseen by anyone but God
Rabbinic text: Taanith 2a, Pesachim 54b, Tanḥuma (Buber), Genesis 7:16 (see link for more rabbinic texts with this reference)
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 7379
Credit/source: (1) https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1e1svgb/a_few_hadith_parallels_with_the_bible_apocrypha/ (2) Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 92-94
A man has himself burned and his ashes spread across the seas to avoid judgement
Rabbinic text: Gittin 56B.17
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 7506
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 280-281
When a man commits a sin a first time and repents, forgive him; for the second time, forgive him; for the third time, forgive him
Rabbinic text: Yoma 86b
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 7507
Credit/source: Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 95-96
Sahih Muslim
If someone intends to do a good deed but cannot complete it, they are still rewarded for it
Rabbinic text: Kiddushin 40A.12
Hadith: Sahih Muslim 131a
Credit/source: Ian Cook
Childs sex determined by which parent emits their seed first
Credit/source: (1) https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jinpsw/rabbinic_hadith_parallel_the_unbeliever_as_a/ (2) Levi Jacober, The traditions of al-Bukhārī and their aggadic parallels, pp. 144-146
See this post for a detailed listing of rabbinic and biblical parallels with the hadith in the Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabbih
Miscellaneous
Several angels appearing across many hadith in a range of sources seem to be derived from Jewish sources. This is discussed in Budge, Angels in Islam, pp. 47-48. A post of the discussion can be found here.
A male-bird tricks a lady-bird into sleeping with him by promising something that he can't actually give her. This finds parallel in a hadith attributed to Solomon (not Muhammad). The hadith sources, rabbinic text, and attribution of the find is all here: https://sites.google.com/site/elonharvey/publications-more/solomon-s-birds-extra/birds-traditions
The three types of jinn. Rabbinic text: Hagigah 16a. Quotation: "Sages taught: Six statements were said with regard to demons: In three ways they are like ministering angels, and in three ways they are like humans. The baraita specifies: In three ways they are like ministering angels: They have wings like ministering angels; and they fly from one end of the world to the other like ministering angels; and they know what will be in the future like ministering angels." https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/135612.36?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en. Hadith: "Abu Tha'labah al-Khushani said, the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "The Jinn are of three types, a type that has wings, and they fly through the air, a type that looks like snakes and dogs and a type that stops for a rest then resumes its journey." (reported by al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar, 4/95, and by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir, 22/214. Shaykh al-Albani said in al-Mishkat (2/1206, no. 4148): al-Tahawi and Abul-Shaykh reported it with a Sahih Isnad)". Quoted from https://islamqa.info/en/answers/2340/types-of-jinn
Various hadith on the Throne and Footstool of God. This division is first found in rabbinic tradition, e.g. see bChagigah 14a:6-7.
Quoting Bilal Muhammad: "In Ṭabarānī’s Muʿjam al-Kabīr, Shaddād b. Aws narrates that the Prophet said, “Poverty is more becoming for the believer than attractive bridle straps are for a horse’s cheeks.”[8] The same saying is attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib in Kulayni’s al-Kāfi.[9] The Talmud quotes a similar expression from a “folk saying that people say”: “Poverty is good for the Jewish people like a red bridle for a white horse.”[10]" The Talmudic passage Bilal Muhammad is citing is Chagigah 9b.
Parallels with the Bible
With the New Testament...
Matthew 7:3, Luke 6:41 / Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 592, Kanz al-Ummal, hadith 44141, Sahih Ibn Hibban 4597 (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1m8wssp/hadith_parallel_matthew_73/)
Matthew 10:37 / Sahih al-Bukhari 14, Sahih a-Bukhari 15
Matthew 13:3-9 / Sahih al-Bukhari 79 (credit: Jacober, pp. 147-148)
Matthew 18:10-14 / Jami at-Tirmidhi 3538
Matthew 20:1-16 / Sahih al-Bukhari 3459 (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jsp0f4/gospel_of_matthew_and_hadith_parallel/)
Matthew 20:16 / Sahih Muslim 855a (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jqljo3/hadith_parallel_so_the_last_shall_be_first/)
Matthew 23:10 / Sahih Muslim 2249a (credit: https://x.com/GabrielSaidR/status/1918364161135853962)
Matthew 25:31-46 / Al Adab Al-Mufrad 517
Luke 23:34 / Sahih a-Bukhari 6929
John 20:29 / Ahmad 12578
Acts 5:38-39 / Sahih Muslim 2930a (credit)
1 Cor. 2:9 / Sahih al-Bukhari 7498. For more detail, see Clivas & Schulthess, "On the Source and Rewriting of 1 Corinthians 2.9 in Christian, Jewish and Islamic Traditions (1 Clem 34.8; GosJud 47.10–13; a ḥadīth qudsī)," pp. 194-195. Helpful graphic.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 25-26 / Sahih Bukhari 6011, Sahih Muslim 2586a (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1m8cikm/hadith_parallel_1_corinthians_12/ and https://x.com/GabrielSaidR/status/1951254406432727211)
Revelation 13:16 / Musnad Ahmad 22308
Revelation 16:12 (also Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 19:5) / Riyad as-Salihin 1822 — The Euphrates will dry up
With the Old Testament...
Gen 1:26 / Sahih Muslim 2612e (God created Adam in his own image)
Deuteronomy 20:1-9 + Joshua 7 + Joshua 10 / Sahih Bukhari 3124 (see visual here)
1 Samuel 16:7 / Sahih Muslim 2564 (credit: https://bliis.org/research/the-israiliyat-problem)
1 Kings 3:16-28 / Sahih Bukhari 3427
Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 19:5 (also revelation 16:12) / Riyad as-Salihin 1822 — The Euphrates will dry up]
Isaiah 11:6-9 / this hadith (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jn80du/hadith_parallel_isaiah_11s_eschatological_vision/)
Isaiah 52 / Sahih al-Bukhari 2125 (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jxj4lc/hadith_parallel_isaiah_42/)
Ezekiel 39:9 / Sunan ibn Majah 4076 (credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1jpmbbc/hadith_parallel_ezekiel_39/)
Ecclesiastes 7:28 / Sahih al-Bukhari 6498 (credit: Jacober, pp. 132-133)
Credit/source: Much more information can be found about this salamander trope here and here
The blindness in the right eye of Dajjal
Texts: Zechariah 11:15-17 describes a worthless shepherd with a damaged right eye and a severed arm. Some later Christian theologians interpreted this figure as the Antichrist (Jerome, Commentary on the Prophet Zechariah 3.11.15; Didymus the Blind, On Zechariah 11). Also see the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel. Pseudo-John seems to contain much more detailed parallels with this tradition, though: see here.
Hadith: Mentioned in numerous hadith
Angelic intercession for believers
Texts: Multiple second Temple Jewish early Christian writings: 1 Enoch 15:2; 39:5; 47:1-2; 104:1; 4Q400 1:15-20; T. Levi 3:5; T. Dan 6:2; 3 Baruch 11:4, 9; 12; 15; Apoc. Moses 33-38.
Hadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 659, Sahih al-Bukhari 3229
Various eschatological doctrines
See Ali Akbar, "The Zoroastrian Provenance of Some Islamic Eschatological Doctrines," Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses (2020), pp. 86-108.
The Euphrates drying up uncovering a mountain of gold
This idea is found 8th-century Jewish and Christian texts: The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai (see here) and, in related fashion, the a Syriac work known as the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles (though it is associated with the Tigris in the latter source). See https://bliis.org/research/the-israiliyat-problem
Hadith: Riyad as-Salihin 1822
Only women, not men, can wear silk and gold
Text: The Twelve Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. "Caligula ignored Roman fashion and tradition in clothing... sometimes dressing in the silken robes only permitted to women... Then again, he would often appear with a golden beard, grasping a lightning-bolt, a trident, or a caduceus, as an emblem of the god, or robed as Venus."
Hadith: Sunan an-Nasa'i 5265
Additional notes: apparently the wearing of silk for men was outright banned during the reign of the emperor Tiberius https://www.britannica.com/topic/dress-clothing/Government-regulation-of-dress?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Whoever tells a lie about me deliberately, let him take his place in Hell
The title of this one is the hadith. This passage warns against fabricating hadith. It resembles curse formula found at the end of texts or inscriptions across the ancient Near East warning the audience not to modify or efface the composition. For example, near the end of the Book of Revelation, we read: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll." Two Ethiopian inscriptions with these curse formula, listed in George Hatke, “May He and His Kin Be Eradicated and Uprooted: Curse Formulae in Aksumite Royal Inscription,” Folia Orientalia (2023), pg. 56, read "May he who effaces this inscription be blinded" and "O Lāt, let there be blindness and a scab and starvation for he who would efface the inscription". It occurs in several South Arabian inscriptions, e.g. "And may ʿAmm shame the one who will violate this memorial" (see Giovanni Mazzini, "Ancient South arabian inscription BynM 5: A new interpretationand semitic parallels," Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy (2020)). It occurs in some Safaitic inscriptions: "may he who would efface (this writing) out of jealousy be thrown out (of the grave) by a loved one" (Ahmad Al-Jallad, "Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction," Journal of Semitic Studies (2025), pg. 22).
The human body has 360 joints
Sahih Muslim 1007a
As documented here, this idea has precednet in pre-Islamic, ancient Chinese and Indian medical texts.
People's age in paradise
Bilal Muhammad writes: "In Sunan al-Tirmidhī, there is a ḥadīth on the authority of Muʿādh b. Jabal that the Prophet said that the people of Paradise would be “thirty years of age or thirty-three years.” [Jami at-Tirmidhi 2545] Sean Anthony suggests that this may come from fourth century Syriac Christian exegetical sources, which say that Adam “was created at the age of thirty”, Jesus “came to baptism at the age of thirty years”, and “that believers would be resurrected at an age ‘attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ,’ i.e., ~30-33.” [[https://x.com/shahanSean/status/1797765325775360012]](https://x.com/shahanSean/status/1797765325775360012%5D)"
Only Jesus and Mary were untouched by Satan at their birth
"This protection of Mary and her children from Satan was also a topic of interest for the Muslim Hadith tradition. Thus, in one hadith [Sahih al-Bukhari 4548] it is said that only Jesus and Mary were left untouched by Satan at their respective births. In saying this, the hadith tradition awakened echoes of the Catholic doctrine of original sin, which also maintains that it is exclusively Jesus and Mary who were born without original sin and who are therefore protected from Satan" (Muna Tatari and Klaus von Stosch, Mary in the Qur’an: Friend of God, Virgin, Mother, University of Chicago Press 2021, pg. 169)
Shia hadith?
The above only covers Sunni hadith. One post has been made pointing out a parallel with Shia hadith. I will more properly categorize these if a greater number are identified in the future. A second Shia parallel is listed above, in the New Testament section, for Matthew 7:3, Luke 6:41. Bilal Muhammad has also observed a few parallels with Shia hadith in this post, under the sections "The rarity of a good woman" and "Seven Seals".