There are few variants to this report: in some reports it is mentioned "Better than the prophets of Bani Israel" it is mentioned in the book Fayd al-Qadir Sharh Jami al-Saghir by al-Munawi فائدة: سئل الحافظ العراقي عما اشتهر على الألسنة من حديث علماء أمتي كأنبياء بني إسرائيل فقال: لا أصل له ولا إسناد بهذا اللفظ ويغني عنه العلماء ورثة الأنبياء وهو حديث صحيح. Hafiz al-Iraqi was about this hadith and he said: "no basis for it and no isnad" For more about this Hadith check Kashf al-Khafa 64/2 of Ajluni , al-Fuaid al-Majmooah p. 286 of Shawkani, Suyuti in Durur, Sakhawi in Maqasid who said, "our shaykh meaning Ibn Hajar, said that it has no basis" , The Sufi master, Sayyid Abd al-Aziz al-Dabbagh also said same (that is it no hadith) as reported by his student Ibn al-Mubarak in kitaab al-Ibriz
:s1: Some "Sunnis" are claiming that the hadith sharif, "The scholars of my ummat are like the prophets of Bani Israel" is fabricated and give, amongst other hadith masters, Imam Suyuti, as a reference for their claim. Is this true? (Apparently, according to the (il)logic of these people, this hadith is the 'basis' of the 'concocted fairytale' about Imam Ghazali's soul being presented to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم on the night of Miraj. Thus methinks this is another attempt to stop the praise of al-Ghazali whom they, protestations notwithstanding, do not really like as their past comments attest.)
