Existence of doppelgangers

26-4-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Lately, in the past weeks, I have been seeing someone whom I know, but they are not the person whom I know. Does Allaah create another human being (their vessel) to be similar to another human being, except that their soul is different? Another word for this is doppelgänger.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Resemblance between some people is a fact, and it is not surprising; sometimes you may find this between relatives or among distant people who are not related.

It is proven in the Sunnah that the Prophet resembled Ibraaheem (Abraham) . Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet said, “… and I saw [in a dream] Ibraaheem standing in prayer, and the closest of the people in resemblance to him, from those I have seen, is your companion (meaning himself). When it was time for the prayer, I led them (in prayer).” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

Also, Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib and Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali resembled the Prophet .

Al-Baraa' ibn ‘Aazib narrated that the Prophet said to Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib, "You resemble me in both appearance and character."

In Musnad Ahmad, ‘Uqbah ibn Al-Haarith said, “I went out with Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq after the death of the Prophet by some nights, and ‘Ali was walking beside him. Abu Bakr passed by Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali, who was playing with some boys, so he took him on his shoulders and said, ‘I ransom you by my father; you resemble the Prophet, and you do not resemble ‘Ali.’ He said, ‘And ‘Ali was laughing.’”

Allah knows best.