'Abdullah b. Salam accepts Islam
I was told the story of 'Abdullah b. Salam, a learned rabbi, by one of his family. He said: 'When I heard about the apostle I knew by his description, name, and the time at which he appeared that he was the one we were waiting for, and I rejoiced greatly thereat, though I kept silent about it until the apostle came to Medina. When he stayed in Quba' among the B. 'Amr b. 'Auf a man came with the news while I was working at the top of a palm-tree and my aunt Khalida d. al-Harith was sitting below. When I heard the news I cried Allah Akbar and my aunt said, "Good gracious, if you had heard that Moses b. 'Imran had come you could not have made more fuss!" "Indeed, aunt," I said, "he is the brother of Moses and follows his religion, being sent with the same mission." She asked, "Is he really the prophet who we have been told will be sent at this very time?" and she accepted my assurance that he was. Straightway I went to the apostle and became a Muslim, and when I returned to my house I ordered my family to do the same.
'I concealed the matter from the Jews, and then went to the apostle and said, "The Jews are a nation of liars and I wish you would take me into one of your houses and hide me from them. Then ask them about me so that they may tell you the position I hold among them before they know that I have become a Muslim. For if they know it beforehand they will utter slanderous lies against me." The prophet housed me; the Jews came; and the apostle asked them about my standing among them. They said: "He is our chief, and the son of our chief; our rabbi, and our learned man." When they said this I emerged and said: "O Jews, fear God and accept what He has sent you. For by God you know that he is the apostle of God. You will find him described in your Torah and even named. I testify that he is the apostle of God, I believe in him, I hold him to be true, and I acknowledge him." They accused me of lying and reviled me. Then I reminded the apostle that I had said that they would do this, for they were a treacherous, lying, and evil people. I publicly proclaimed my conversion and my household and my aunt Khalida followed suit.'
The story of Mukhayriq
He was a learned rabbi owning much property in date palms. He recognized the apostle by his description and his own learning, and he felt a predilection for his religion until on the of Uhud, which fell on the sabbath, he reminded the Jews that they were bound to help Muhammad. They objected that it was the sabbath. 'May you have no sabbath,' he answered, and took his weapons and joined the apostle in Uhud. His parting testimony to his people was: 'If I am killed today my property is to go to Muhammad to use as God shows him.' He was killed in the battle that followed. I am told that the apostle used to say 'Mukhayriq is the best of the Jews.' The apostle took over his property and all the alms he distributed in Medina came from it.
The testimony of Safiya
'Abdullah b. Abu Bakr b. Muhammad told me that he was told that Safiya d. Huyayy said 'I was the favourite child of my father and my uncle Abu Yasir. When I was present they took no notice of their other children. When the apostle was staying in Quba' with the B. 'Amr b. 'Auf, the two went to see him before daybreak and did not return until after nightfall, weary, worn out, drooping and feeble. I went up to them in childish pleasure as I always did, and they were so sunk in gloom that they took no notice of me. I heard my uncle say to my father, "Is he he? Do you recognize him, and can you be sure?" "Yes!" "And what do yo feel about him?" "By God I shall be his enemy as long as I live!"'
References to the hypocrites and the Jews in the sura entitle 'The Cow'
The first hundred verses of the sura of the Cow came down in reference to these Jewish rabbis and the hypocrites of Aus and Khazraj, according to what I have been told, and God knows best. He said: 'Alif Lam Mim. That is the book wherein there is no doubt.' The word rayb means doubt.
'A guidance to the god-fearing', i.e. those who fear God's punishment for abandoning the guidance they recognize, and hope for His mercy through believing in what has come to them from Him. 'Who believe in the unseen and establish prayer and give out what We have provided them with, ' i.e. they establish prayer in its prescribed form and pay the poor-tax expecting a (future) reward for it. 'And those who believe in what has been sent down to thee and to those who were before thee,' i.e. they believe thee to be true in what thou has brought from God and what the sent ones brought before thee, making no difference between them nor opposing what they brought from their Lord. 'And are certain of the latter end,' i.e. the waking from death, the resurrection, paradise and hell, the reckoning and the scales, i.e. there are those who allege that they believe in what was before thee and in what has come to thee from thy Lord. 'These live in guidance from their Lord,' i.e. according to light from their Lord and uprightly according to what has come to them. 'These are they who prosper,' i.e. who attain what they seek and escape the evil they flee from. 'As for those who disbelieve,' i.e. in what has been sent down to thee though they say we have long believed in what came to us before thee, 'it is all one to them whether thou warn them or do not warm them they will not believe,' i.e. they disbelieve in what has come to thee and in what they have already which others brought to them so how will they listen to warning and exhortation from thee when they have denied that they have any knowledge of thee? 'God hath sealed their hearts and their hearing and over their sight there is a covering,' i.e. so that they will never find guidance, meaning: because they have declared you a liar so that they will not believe in the truth which has come to thee from thy Lord though they believe in all that came before thee. For opposing thee they will ave an awful punishment. Thus far concerning the Jewish rabbis for calling the truth a lie after they knew it.
'And there are some men who say, We believe in God and the last day when they do not believe.' He means the hypocrites of Aus and Khazraj and their followers. 'They would deceive God and those who believe, but they deceive only themselves, and perceive it not. In their hearts is a sickness,' i.e. doubt. 'And God increases their sickness,' i.e. doubt. 'A painful punishment is theirs because they lie. And when it is said to them, 'Do not make mischief in the land they say we are only putting things to right,' i.e. we only wish to make peace between the two parties of the believers and the scripture folk. God said: 'Are not they indeed the mischief makers but they perceive it not? And when it is said to them, Believe as the people believe they say: Are we to believe as the foolish believe? Surely they are the foolish but they know it not. And when they meet those who believe they say, We believe; and when they go apart to their leaders,' i.e. the Jews who order them to deny the truth and contradict what the apostle brought, 'They say Certainly we are with you,' i.e. we agree entirely with you. 'We were only mocking,' i.e. mocking the people and jesting with them. God said: 'God will mock at them and let them continue to wander blindly in their error'.
'These are they who buy error at the price of guidance,' i.e. disbelief for faith. 'So their traffic is not profitable and they are not rightly guided.'
Then God employed a simile and said: 'They are like a man who lights a fire and when it lightens his environment God takes away their light and leaves them in darkness unable to see,' i.e. they cannot see the truth and profess it so that when they go out with it from the darkness of unbelief they extinguish it with their unbelief and hypocrisy, and God leaves them in the darkness of unbelief and they do not see guidance and are not upright in truth. 'Deaf, dumb, blind, and they return not,' i.e. they return not to guidance, dead, dumb, blind to what is good, they return not to good and find no escape from their condition. 'Or like a rainstorm from heaven wherein is darkness and thunder and lightning. They put their fingers in their ears because of the thunderings, in fear of death. God encompasses the unbelievers' i.e. because of the darkness of unbelief and the fear of death in which they are, arising from their opposition and fear of you, they are like the man in the rainstorm who puts his fingers in his ears at the thunderclaps in fear of death. He says: And God brings that vengeance upon them, i.e. He encompasses the unbelievers. 'The lightning almost takes away their sight,' i.e. because of the exceeding brightness of the truth. 'Whenever it gives light to them they walk in it and when it is dark for them they stand still,' i.e. they know the truth and talk about it and so far as their talk goes they are on the straight path; but when they relapse from it into infidelity they come to a halt in bewilderment. 'And if God willed He could take away their hearing and their sight,' i.e. because they have forsaken the truth after they knew it. 'God is able to do all things.'
Then He says: 'O men, worship your Lord,' addressing both unbelievers and hypocrites, i.e. acknowledge His unity. 'Who created you and those before you, perchance you may ward off evil. Who has made the earth a bed for you and the heaven a building, and sent down water from heaven and has brought forth fruits thereby as food for you. So make not rivals of God when you know (better)' i.e. do not associate with God rivals which can neither profit nor harm when you know that you have no Lord that can feed you other than He, and you know that the monotheism to which the apostle calls you is the truth about which there is no doubt. 'And if you are in doubt about that which We have sent down to our servant,' i.e. in doubt about what he has brought you, 'then produce a sura like it and summon your witnesses other than God,' i.e. whatever helpers you can get 'if you are truthful; and if you do not and you cannot' for the truth has become clear to you, 'then fear hell whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the unbelievers,' i.e. for those who are in a state of infidelity like you.
Then he appeals to their interest and warns them against breaking the covenant which He made with them in reference to His prophet when He came to them, and He reminds them of the beginning of their creation whom He created them, and what happened to their forefather Adam and how he was dealt with for his disobedience; then He says: 'O children of Israel,' addressing the Jewish rabbis, 'Remember the favour I showed you,' i.e. My care for you and your fathers, wherewith He delivered them from Pharaoh and his army. 'And fulfil My covenant' which I placed on your necks with regard to My prophet Ahmad when should come to you. 'I shall fulfil My part of the covenant.' I shall carry out what I promised you for believing in and following him by removing the bonds and chains which were upon your necks because of the sins which you had committed. 'And stand in awe of Me,' i.e. lest I bring down on you what I brought down on your fathers before you- the vengeance that you know of, bestial transformation and the like. 'And believe in what I have sent down confirming what you already have, and be not the first to disbelieve it' seeing that you have knowledge which others have not about it. 'And fear Me and do not mingle truth with falsehood nor hide the truth which you know,' i.e. do not conceal the knowledge which you have about My apostle and what he has brought when you will find it with you in what you know if the books which are in your hands. 'Would you tell men to be good and forget to be so yourselves, you being readers of scripture? Do you not understand?' i.e. would you forbid men to disbelieve in the prophecy you have and the covenant of the Torah and abandon it yourselves? i.e. when you deny that it contains My covenant with you that you must pronounce My apostle to be true, and you break My agreement and you contradict what you know to be in My book.
Then He recounts their sins, mentioning the calf and what they did with it; how He forgave them and pardoned them; then their words 'Show us God plainly'; and how the storm came upon them because of their presumptuousness; then He quickened them after they had died; overshadowed them with the cloud, sent down to them manna and quails and said to them, 'Enter the gate with prostrations and say Hitta,' i.e. say what I command you, and I will remove your sins from you; and their changing that word making a mockery of His command; and His forgiving them after their mockery.
With regard to their changing that word, the apostle said according to what Salih b. Kaisan from Salih, freedman of al-Tau'ama d. Umayya b. Khalaf from Abu Hurayra and someone above suspicion from Ibn 'Abbas: They entered the gate they were ordered to enter with prostrations in a crowd saying, 'Wheat is in the barley'. (He also reminded them of) Moses praying for water for his people and His commanding him to strike the rock with his staff so that the water gushed forth in twelve streams, one for each tribe to drink from, each tribe knowing the one from which it was to drink. And their saying to Moses, 'We cannot bear one kind of food. Pray to your Lord for us that He may bring forth to us vegetables which the earth produces such as cucumbers and corn and beans and onions. He said: Will you exchange that which is better for that which is baser? Go down to Egypt; thus you will get what you ask for.' They did not do so. Further how He raised the mountain above them that they might receive what was brought to them; and the bestial transformation when He made them into apes for their sins; and the cow which God showed them in which there was a lesson concerning the slain man about whom they differed until God made clear to them his affair after their repeated requests to Moses for a description of the cow; further the hardness of their hearts afterwards so that they were harder than stone. Then He said; 'There are rocks from which rivers gush forth and there are rocks which split asunder and water comes out of them, and there are rocks which fall down for fear of God,' i.e. some rocks are softer than your hearts in regard to the truth to which you were called. 'And God is not unaware of what you do.'
Then He said to Muhammad and the believers with him, causing them to despair of them: 'Do you hope that they will believe you when there is a party of them who listen to the word of God then change it after they understand it, doing so knowingly?' His saying 'They listen to the Torah' does not mean that they all heard it, but only a party of them, i.e. a selected number according to what I was told by a scholar. They said to Moses: Something has come between us and the vision of God so let us hear His word when He speaks to thee. Moses conveyed the request to God who said: Yes, command them to purify themselves or to purify their clothing and to fast; and they did so. Then he brought them forth to the mountain, and when the cloud covered them Moses commanded them to prostrate themselves and his Lord spoke to him and they heard His voice giving them commands and prohibitions so that they understood what they heard. Then he went back with them to the Children of Israel, 'God has ordered you to do so-and-so,' they contradicted him and said that God had ordered something else. It is they to whom God refers.
Then God said: 'And when they meet those who believe they say: We believe,' i.e. in your leader the apostle of God; but he (has been sent) to you alone. And when they go apart with one another they say, Don't talk to the Arabs about this for you used to ask for victory over them through him and he is of them. So God sent down concerning them: 'And when they meet those who believe they say, We believe. But when they go apart with one another they say, Will you talk about what God has revealed to you that they may contend with you about it before your Lord? Have you no understanding?' i.e. maintain that he is a prophet since you know that God has made a covenant with you that you should follow him, while he tells you that he is the prophet whom we are expecting and find in our book. Oppose him and do not recognize him. God said: 'Do they not know that God knows what they conceal and what they proclaim, and some of them are gentiles who do not know the book but merely recite passages. 'They only think they know,' i.e. they don't know the book and they do not know what is in it, yet they oppose thy prophethood on mere opinion. 'And they say the fire will not touch us except for a limited time. Say, Have ye received a covenant from God? God will not break His covenant- or do you say what you do not know about God?'
A freedman of Zayd b. Thabit told me as from 'Ikrima or from Sa'id b. Jubayr from Ibn 'Abbas: The apostle came to Medina when the Jews were saying that the world would last for seven thousand years and that God would only punish men in hell one day in the next world for every thousand in this world. There would be only seven days and then punishment would cease. So God sent down concerning this saying: 'And they say, The fire will not touch us except for a limited time. Say, Have ye received a covenant from God? God will not break His covenant- or do you say what you do not know about God? Nay whoso does evil and his sin encompasses him,' i.e. he who does as you do and disbelieves as you disbelieve, his unbelief encompasses the good he has acquired with God. 'They are the people of hell; they will be there eternally,' i.e. for ever. 'And those who do good, they are the people of paradise; they will be there eternally,' i.e. those who disbelieve in what you deny and do what you have left undone of His religion. They shall have paradise for ever. He tells them that the recompense for good and evil is eternal: it will never cease.
Then He said in blaming them, 'And when We made a covenant with the children of Israel,' i.e. you covenant. 'Worship none but God, show kindness to parents and to near relatives, and to orphans and the poor, and speak kindly to men, and establish prayer and pay the poor-tax, then you turned your backs except a few of you, being averse,' i.e. you abandoned all that- nothing less. 'And when we made a covenant with you, Shed not your blood'. 'And do not turn (some of) your people out of your dwellings. Then ye ratified it and you are witnesses thereof,' i.e. that My covenant condition truly binds you. 'Then you are they who kill your people and drive some of them from their houses, supporting one another against them by crime and transgression,' i.e. the polytheists, so that they shed their blood along with them and drive them from their houses along with them. 'And if they came to you as prisoners you would ransom them' knowing that that is incumbent upon you in your religion, 'while their expulsion is forbidden to you' in your scripture. 'Will you believe in a part of the scripture and disbelieve in another part?' i.e. will you ransom them believing in one part and expel them disbelieving in another part? 'And what is the recompense of those of you who do that but shame in this world and on the day of resurrection they will be sent to the severest punishment. For God is not unaware of what you are doing. These are they who buy this life at the price of the next life. Their punishment will not be lightened nor will they be helped.' Thus God blamed them for what they were doing, He having in the Torah prohibited them from shedding each other's blood and charged them to redeem their prisoners.
There were two parties: The B. Qaynuqa and their adherents, allies of Khazraj; and al-Nadir and Qurayza and their adherents allies of Aus. When there was war between Aus and Khazraj the B. Qaynuqa went out with Khazraj, and al-Nadir and Qurayza with Aus, each side helping his allies against his own brethren so that they shed each other's blood, while the Torah was in their hands by which they knew what was allowed and what was forbidden them. Aus and Khazraj were polytheists worshipping idols knowing nothing about paradise and hell, the waking and the resurrection, the scriptures, the permitted and the forbidden. When the war came to an end they ransomed their prisoners in accordance with the Torah each side redeeming those of their men who had been captured by the other side, disregarding the bloodshed that had been incurred in helping the polytheists. God said in blaming them for that: 'Will you believe in a part of the scripture and disbelieve in another part?' i.e. would you redeem him in accordance with the Torah and kill him when the Torah forbids you to do so, killing him and driving him out of his house and helping the polytheist who worships idols instead of God against him, all for the sake of this world's gain? According to my information this passage came down with reference to their behaviour with Aus and Khazraj.
He continued: 'We gave Moses the scripture and We sent apostles after him and We gave Jesus, son of Mary, the clear proofs,' i.e. the signs which were wrought by Him in raising the dead; forming the likeness of birds from clay and then breathing into them so that they became birds by God's permission, healing the sick; and news of many hidden things which they stored in their houses; and His confuting them from the Torah and the Gospel which God had created for Him. Then he mentions their disbelief in all that and says: 'Is it that whenever there comes to you an apostle with what you do not like you act arrogantly; some you declare liars and some you put to death?' Then he says: 'And they said, Our hearts are uncircumcised,' i.e. in coverings. 'Nay, but God has cursed them for their unbelief. Little do they believe. And when a scripture comes to them from God confirming what they already have, though before that they were asking for a victory over the unbelievers, when there comes to them what they know they deny it. God's curse is on the unbelievers.'
'Asim b. 'Umar told me that shaykhs of his people said: This passage came down about us and them. We had got the better of them in the pagan era, we being polytheists and they scripture folk. They used to say to us, 'Soon a prophet will be sent whom we shall follow; his time is at hand. With his help we shall kill you like 'Ad and Iram.' And when God sent His apostle from Quraysh and we followed him they denied him. God said: 'And when there comes to them what they know they deny it. God's curse is on the unbelievers. Wretched is that for which they sell themselves in disbelieving in what God has sent down, grudging that God should send down of His bounty upon whom He will of His servants,' i.e. that He should have given it to one who was not of them. 'They have incurred anger upon anger and for the unbelievers there is a shameful punishment'.
The double anger is His anger at what they have disregarded of the Torah which they had and His anger at their disbelieving in this prophet whom God had sent to them. Then He told them of the raising of the mountain above them and their taking the calf as a god instead of their Lord. God then said: 'Say, If the last dwelling with God is for you alone excluding others, then long for death if you are truthful,' i.e. pray for death to which of the two parties is most false with God. And they refused the apostle's suggestion. God said to His prophet: 'They will never long for it because of what their hands have sent before them ( i.e. their past deeds) ,' i.e. because they know about thee by the knowledge which they have and deny it, It is said that if they had longed for it the day he said that to them, not a single Jew would have remained on the earth but would have died. Then He mentions their love of this life and of a long life and God said: 'Thou wilt find them the most eager of men for life', the Jews, 'even more than the polytheists; each one would like to live a thousand years and to be allowed to live long would not remove him from the punishment,' i.e. it would not deliver him from it. The reason is that the polytheist does not hope for raising after death so he wants to live long, and the Jew knows what awaits him of shame in the next life because he was wasted the knowledge that he has. Then God said: 'Say, Who is an enemy to Gabriel? For it is he who brought it down to thy heart by God's permission.'
'Abdullah b. 'Abdu'l-Rahman told me from Shahr b. Haushab that a number of Jewish rabbis came to the apostle and asked him to answer four questions, saying that if he did so they would follow him and testify to his truth, and believe in him. He got them to swear a solemn oath that if he gave them the right answers they would acknowledge his truth and they began: 'Why does a boy resemble his mother when the semen comes from the man?' 'I adjure you by God and His favour towards the children of Israel, do you not know that a man's semen is white and thick while a woman's is yellow and thin, and the likeness goes with that which comes to the top?' 'Agreed,' they said. 'Tell us about your sleep.' 'Do you not know that a sleep which you allege I do not have is when the eye sleeps but my heart is awake?' 'Agreed.' 'Thus is my sleep. My eye sleeps but my heart is awake.' 'Tell us about what Israel voluntarily forbade himself.' 'Do you not know that he was ill God restored him to health so he deprived himself of his favourite food and drink in gratitude to God?' 'Agreed. Tell us about the Spirit.' 'Do you not know that it is Gabriel, he who comes to me?' 'Agreed, but O Muhammad he is an enemy to us, an angel who comes only with violence and the shedding of blood, and were it not for that we would follow you.' So God sent down concerning them: 'Who is an enemy to Gabriel? For it is he who brought it down to thy heart by God's permission confirming what was before it and a guidance and good tidings to the believers' as far as the words 'Is it not that when they make a covenant some of them set it aside, nay most of them do not believe. And when an apostle comes to them from God confirming that which they have, some of them who have received the scripture, the book of God, put it behind them as if they did not know it and the follow that which the satans read concerning the kingdom of Solomon,' i.e. sorcery. 'Solomon did not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching men sorcery.'
This, so I have heard, happened when the apostle mentioned Solomon b. David among the sent ones. One of the rabbis saidm 'Don't you wonder at Muhammad? He alleges that Solomon was a prophet, and by God he was nothing but a sorcerer.' So God sent down concerning that: 'Solomon did not disbelieve but the satans disbelieved,' i.e. in following sorcery and practising it. 'And that which was revealed to the two angels Harut and Marut in Babylon and they taught nobody.'
Someone above suspicion told me from 'Ikrima from Ibn 'Abbas that he used to say: 'What Israel forbade himself was the two lobes of the liver, the kidneys and the fat (except what was upon the back), for that used to be offered in sacrifice and the fire consumed it.'
The apostle wrote to the Jews of Khaybar according to what a freedman of the family Zayd b. Thabit told me from 'Ikrima or from Sa'id b. Jubayr from Ibn 'Abbas: 'In the name of God the compassionate the merciful from Muhammad the apostle of God friend and brother of Moses who confirms what Moses brought. God says to you, O scripture folk, and you will find it in your scripture "Muhammad is the apostle of God; and those with him are severe against the unbelievers, merciful among themselves. Thou seest them bowing, falling prostrate seeking bounty and acceptance from God. The mark of their prostrations is on their foreheads. That is their likeness in the Torah and in the Gospel like a seed which sends forth its shoot and strengthens it and it becomes thick and rises straight upon its stalk delighting the sowers that He may anger the unbelievers with them. God has promised those who believe and do well forgiveness and a great reward." (48:29) I adjure you by God, and by what He has sent down to you, by the manna and quails He gave as food to your tribes before you, and by His drying up the sea for your fathers when He delivered them from Pharoah and his works, that you tell me, Do you find in what He has sent down to you that you should believe in Muhammad? If you do not find that in your scripture then there is no compulsion upon you. "The right path has become plainly distinguished from error (2:256)
According to what I heard from 'Ikrima freedman of Ibn 'Abbas or from Sa'id b. Jubayr from Ibn. 'Abbas, Jews used to hope that the apostle would be a help to them against Aus and Khazraj before his mission began; and when God sent him from among the Arabs they disbelieved in him and contradicted what they had formerly said about him. Mu'adh b. Jabal and Bishr b. al-Bara' brother of the B.Salama said to them : 'O Jews, fear God and become Muslims, for you used to hope for Muhammad's help against us when we were polytheists and to tell us that he would be sent and describe him to us.' Salam b. Mishkam, one of B. al-Nadir, said, 'He has not brought us anything we recognize and he is not the one we spoke of to you.' So God sent down about that saying of theirs: 'And when a book comes to them from God confirming what they have, though beforehand they were asking for help against those who disbelieve, when there came to them what they knew, they disbelieved in it, so God's curse rests on the unbelievers.' (2:89)
Malik b. al-Sayf said when the apostle had been sent and they were reminded of the condition that had been imposed on them and what God had convenanted with them concerning him, 'No covenant was ever made with us about Muhammad.' So God sent down concerning him: 'Is it not that whenever they make a convenant a party of them set is aside? Nay most of them do not believe.' (2:100)
Abu Saluba al-Fityuni said to the apostle: 'O Muhammad, you have not brought us anything we recognize, and God has not sent down to you any sign that we should follow you.' So God sent down concerning his words, 'We have sent down to thee plain signs and only evildoers disbelieve in them.'
Rafi' b.Huraymila and Wahb b. Zayd said to the apostle, 'Bring us a book; bring it down to us from heaven that we may read it; bring out rivers for us from the earth, then we will follow you and believe in you.' So God sent down concerning that: 'Or do you wish to question your apostle as Moses was questioned aforetime; he who exchanges faith for unbelief has wandered from the straight road'. (2:99)
Huyayy and Abu Yasir were the most implacable enemies of the Arabs when God chose to send them an apostle from among themselves and they used to do all they could to turn men away from Islam. So God sent down concerning them :' Many of the scripture folk wish to make you unbelievers again after you have believed being envious on their own account after the truth has become plain to them. But forgive and be indulgent until God shall give you His orders. God can do anything.' (2:109)
When the Christians of Najran came to the apostle the Jewish rabbis came also and they disputed one with the other before the apostle. Rafi' said, 'You have no standing,' and he denied Jesus and the Gospel; and a Christian said to the Jews, 'You have no standing' and he denied that Moses was a prophet and denied the Torah. So God sent down concerning them: ' The Jews say the Christians have no standing; and the Christians say that Jews have no standing, yet they read the scriptures. They do not know what they are talking about. God will judge between them on the day of resurrection concerning their controversy,' i.e. each one reads in his book the confirmation of what he denies, so that the Jews deny Jesus though they have the Torah in which God required them by the word of Moses to hold Jesus true; while in the Gospel is what Jesus brought in confirmation of Moses and the Torah he brought from God; so each one denies what is in the hand of the other.
Rafi' said: 'If you are an apostle from God as you say, then ask God to speak to us so that we may hear His voice.' So God revealed concerning that : 'And those who do not know say, Why does not God speak to us or a sign come to us? Those who were before them said the same. Their minds are just the same. We have made the signs clear to a people who are sure.'
'Abdullah b. Suriya, the one-eyed man, said to the apostle, 'The only guidance is to be found with us, so follow us, Muhammad, and you will be rightly guided.' The Christians said the same. So God sent down concerning them both: 'And they say, Be Jews or Christians then you will be rightly guided. Say, Nay, the religion of Abraham a hanif who was no polytheist,' as far as the words 'Those are a people who have passed away; they have what they earned and you have what you have earned and you will not be asked about what they used to do.' (2:135)
And when the qibla was changed from Syria to the Ka'ba- it was changed in Rejab at the beginning of the seventeenth month after the apostle's arrival in Medina- Rifa'a b. Qays; Qardam b. 'Amr; Ka'b b. al-Ashraf; Rafi' b. Abu Rafi'; al-Hajjaj b. 'Amr, an ally of Ka'b's; al-Rabi b. al-Rabi'; and Kinana b. al-Rabi' came to the apostle asking why he had turned his back on the qible he used to face when he alleged that he followed the religion of Abraham. If he would return to the qibla in Jerusalem they would follow him and declare him to be true. Their sole intention was to seduce him from his religion, so God sent down concerning them: 'The foolish people will say: What made them turn their back on the qibla that they formerly observed? Say, To God belongs the east and the west. He guides whom He will to the straight path. Thus we have made you a central community that you may be witnesses against men and that the apostle may be a witness against you. And we appointed the qibla which thou didst formerly observe only that we might know who will follow the apostle from him who turns upon his heels,' i.e. to test and find them out. 'Truly it was a hard test except for those whom God guided,' i.e. a temptation, i.e. those whom Allah established. 'It was not Allah's purpose to make your faith vain,' i.e. your faith in the first qibla, your believing your prophet, and your following him to the later qibla and your obeying your prophet therein, i.e. so that he may give you the reward of both of them. 'God is king and compassionate to men.'
Then God said, 'We sometimes see thee turning thy face towards heaven and We will make thee turn towards a qibla which will please thee; so turn thy face towards the sacred mosque and wherever you are turn your faces towards it'. 'Those who have received the scripture know that it is the truth from their Lord, and God is not unmindful of what they do. If thou shouldst follow their desires after the knowledge which has come to thee then thou wouldst be an evildoer,' as far as the words 'It is the truth from thy Lord so be not of the doubters.' (2:147)
Mu'adh b. Jabal and Sa'd b. Mu'adh brother of B. 'Abdu'l-Ashhal, and Kharija b. Zayd brother of B.al-Harith b. al-Khazraj, asked some of the Jewish rabbis about something in the Torah and they concealed it from them and refused to tell anything about it. So God sent down about them: 'Those who conceal the proofs and guidance We have sent down after We have made it plain to men in the book, God will curse them and those who curse will curse them.'
The apostle summoned the Jewish scripture folk to Islam and made it attractive to them and warned them of God's punishment and vengeance. Rafi' b.Kharija and Malik b.'Auf said to him that they would follow the religion of their fathers, for they were more learned and better men than they. So God sent down concerning their words: 'And when it is said to them, Follow what God has sent down, they say: Nay, but we will follow what we found our fathers doing. What! even if their fathers understood nothing and were not rightly guided?'
When God smote Quraysh at Badr, the apostle assembled the Jews in the market of the B. Qaynuqa' when he came to Medina and called on them to accept Islam before God should treat them as he had treated Quraysh. They answered, 'Don't deceive yourself, Muhammad. You have killed a number of inexperienced Quraysh who did not know how to fight. But if you fight us you will learn that we are men and that you have met your equal.' So God sent down concerning their words: 'Say to those who disbelieve, You will be defeated and gathered into hell, a wretched resting-place. You had a sign in the two parties which met: one party fought in the way of God and the other was unbelieving seeing twice their number with their very eyes. God will strengthen with His help whom He will. In that there is a warning for the observant.' (3:13)
The apostle entered a Jewish school where there was a number of Jews and called them to God. Al-Nu'man b. 'Amr and al-Harith b. Zayd said to him:
'What is your religion, Muhammad?
'The religion of Abraham'
'But Abraham was a Jew.'
'Then let the Torah judge between us.'
They refused, and so God sent down concerning them: 'Hast thou not seen how those who have received a portion of scripture when invited to God's book that it may judge between them, a party of them turn backs in opposition. That is because they say, The fire will not touch us except for a limited time. What they were inventing has deceived them in their religion.'
The Jewish rabbis and the Christians of Najran, when they were together before the apostle, broke into disputing. The rabbis said that Abraham was nothing but a Jew. The Christians said he was nothing but a Christian; so God revealed concerning them: 'O Scripture folk, Why do you argue about Abraham when the Torah and the Gospel were not sent down until after his time? Can it be that you do not understand? Behold, you are they who argue of what you know something, but why do you argue about what you know nothing? God knows but you do not know. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian but he was a Muslim hanif and he was not a polytheist. Those who are the nearest to Abraham are those who follow him and this prophet and those who believe, God being the friend of believers.' (3:68)
'Abdullah b. Sayf and 'Adiy b. Zayd and al-Harith b. 'Auf agreed among themselves that they should affect to believe in what had been sent down to Muhammad and his companions at one time and deny it at another so as to confuse them, with the object of getting them to follow their example and give up his religion. So God sent down concerning them: 'O Scripture folk, why confuse ye the true with the false and conceal the truth which you know? Some of the Scripture folk said, Believe in that which has been sent down to those that believe at the beginning of the day and deny it at the end of the day; perhaps they will go back (on it). Believe only in one who follows your religion. Say, The guidance is God's guidance that anyone should be give the like of what you have been given or that they may argue with you before their Lord. Say: the bounty is in the hand of God. he giveth it to whom he pleases and God is all-embracing and all-knowing. 3:73
Abu Rafi' al-Qurayzi said when the rabbis and the Christians from Najran had assembled before the apostle and he invited them to Islam, 'Do you want us, Muhammad, to worship you as the Christians worship Jesus, Son of Mary?' One of the Christians called al-Ribbis said, 'Is that what you want of us and invite us to, Muhammad?' or words to that effect. The apostle replied, 'God forbid that I should worship anyone but God or oder that any but He should be worshipped. God did not send me and order me to do that' or words to that effect. So God sent down concerning their words: 'No mortal to whom God has sent a book and authority and prophecy could say to men, Worship me instead of God; but Be learned in that you teach the book and in that you study it' as far as the words' after ye had become Muslims'. 3:79
'And he did not command you to take the angels and prophets as lords. Would He command you to disbelieve after you had become Muslims?'
Then he mentions how God had imposed on them and on their prophets the obligation to bear witness to his truth when he came to them and their taking that upon themselves and he says: 'When God made His covenant with the prophets (He said) Behold that which I have given you- a book and wisdom. Then when an apostle shall come to you confirming what you have, you shall believe in him and help him. He said, Do you agree and take upon yourselves my burden? They answered, We agree. He said, Then bear witness, I being with you as a witness' to the end of the passage.
Shas b. Qays, who was an old man hardened in unbelief and most bitter against the Muslims and exceeding envious of them, passed by a number of the apostle's companions from Aus and Khazraj in a meeting while they were talking together. When he saw their amity and unity and their happy relations in Islam after their enmity in pagan times he was filled with rage and said: 'The chiefs of B.Qayla in this country having united there will be no firm place for us with them.' So he gave orders to a Jewish youth who was with them to go to them and sit with them and mention the battle of Bu'ath and the preceding events, and recite to them some of the poetry composed by each side.
Now at the battle of Bu'ath Aus and Khazraj fought and the victory went to Aus who were commanded at the time by Hudayr b. Simak the father of Usayd b. Hudayr, Khazraj being led by 'Amr b.al-Nu'man, and both were killed.
The youth did so. Thereupon the people began to talk and to quarrel and to boast until two men of the two clans leapt up, Aus b. Qayzi of B. Haritha b. Harith of Aus and Jabbar b. Sakhr of B.Salama of Khazraj. They began to hold forth against each other until one of them said, 'If you wish we will do the same again.' Thereupon both sides became enraged and said, 'We will. Your meeting-place is outside- that being the volcanic tract- To arms! To arms!' So out they went and when the news reached the apostle he went out with such of the emigrants as were with him and said to then: 'O Muslims, remember God. Remember God. Will you act as pagans while I am with you after God has guided you to Islam and honoured you thereby and made a clean break with paganism; delivered you thereby from unbelief; made you friends thereby?' Then the people realized that the dissension was due to Satan and the guile of their enemy. They wept and the men of Aus and Khazraj embraced one another. Then they went off with the apostle, attentive and obedient, God having quenched the guile of the enemy of God Shas b.Qays. So God sent down concerning him, and what he did: 'Say: O Scripture folk, why do you deny God's signs while God is witness of what you do? Say, O Scripture folk, why do you keep those who believe from God's way wishing to make it crooked when you are witnesses and God is not unmindful of what you are doing?'
God sent down concerning Aus and Jabbar and the people who were with them when Shas brought back for a moment the atmosphere of pagan days, 'O you who believe, if you obey some of those to whom a book has been given they will make you unbelievers again after your faith. How can you disbelieve when God's verses are read to you and His apostle is with you? He who holds fast to God is guided to a straight path. O ye who believe, fear God as He ought to be feared and die not except as Muslims' as far as the words 'Those shall have a painful punishment'.
When Abdullah b. Salam, Tha'laba b Sa'ya, and Usayd b. Sa'ya, and Asad b. 'Ubayd and other Jews became Muslims and believed and were earnest and firm in Islam, the rabbis who disbelieved said that it was only the bad Jews who believed in Muhammad and followed him. Had they been good men they would not have forsaken the religion of their fathers and adopted another. So God sent down concerning what they had said: 'They are not (all) alike: of the scripture folk there is an upright community who read God's verses in the night season prostrating themselves. (3:113) They believe in God and the last day and enjoin good conduct and forbid evil and vie with one another in good works. Those are the righteous.'
Some Muslims remained friends with the Jews because of the tie of mutual protection and alliance which had subsisted between them, so God sent down concerning them and forbidding them to take them as intimate friends: 'O you who believe, do not choose those outside your community as intimate friends, They wil spare no pains to corrupt you longing for your ruin. From their mouths hatred has already shown itself and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have made the signs plain to you if you will understand. Behold you love them but they love not you and you believe in the book- all of it,' i.e. you believe in their book and in the books that were before that while they deny your book, so that you have more right to hate them than they to hate you. 'And when they meet you they say, We believe and when they go apart they bite their fingers against you in rage. Say, Die in your rage', (3:119)
Abu Bakr went into a Jewish school and found a good many men gathered round a certain Finhas, one of their learned rabbis, and another rabbi called Ashya'. Abu Bakr called on the former to fear God and become a Muslim because he knew that Muhammad was the apostle of God who had brought the truth from Him and that they would find it written in the Torah and the Gospel. Finhas replied: 'We are not poor compared to Allah but He is poor compared to us. We do not humble ourselves to Him as He humbles Himself to us; we are independent of Him while He needs us. Were He independent of us He would not ask us to lend Him our money as your master pretends, prohibiting you to take interest and allowing us to. Had He been independent of us He would not have give us interest.'
Abu Bakr was enraged and hit Finhas hard in the face, saying, 'Were it nor for the treaty between us I would cut off your head, you enemy of Allah!' Finhas immediately went to the apostle and said, 'Look, Muhammad, at what your companion has done.' The apostle asked Abu Bakr what had impelled him to do such a thing and he answered: 'The enemy of Allah spoke blasphemy. He alleged that Allah was poor and that they were rich and I was so angry that I hit his face.' Finhas contradicted this and denied that he had said it, so Allah sent down refuting him and confirming what Abu Bakr had said: 'Allah has heard the speech of those who say: "Allah is poor and we are rich." We shall write what they say and their killing the prophets wrongfully and we shall say, Taste the punishment of burning.' (3:181)
And there came down concerning Abu Bakr and the anger that he felt: 'And you will certainly hear from those who received the book before you and from the polytheists much wrong but if you persevere and fear God that is of the steadfastness of things.'
Then He said concerning what Finhas and the other rabbis with him said: 'And when God laid a charge upon those who had received the book: You are to make it clear to men and not to cnceal it, they cast it behind their backs and sold it for a small price. Wretched is the exchange! Think not that those who rejoice in what they have done and want to be praised for what they have not done- think not that they will escape the punishment: theirs will be a painful punishment.' (3:188)
He means Finhas and Ashya' and the rabbis like them who rejoice in what they enjoy of worldly things by making error attractive to men and wish to be praised for what they have not done so that men will say they are learned when they are nothing of the kind, not bringing them to truth and guidance and wanting men to say that they have so done.
Kardam, Usama, Nafi', Bahri, Huyayy, and Rifa'a used to go to some of the helpers advising them not to contribute to the public expenses, 'for we fear that you will come to poverty. Don't be in a hurry to contribute for you do not know the outcome.' So God sent down concerning them: 'Who are avaricious and enjoin avarice on others concealing the bounty they have received from God', i.e. the Torah which confirms what Muhammad brought. 'We have prepared for the unbelievers a shameful punishment, and those who spend their money to be seen of men and believe not in God and the last day' as far as the words 'God knows about them'.
Rifa'a was a notable Jew. When he spoke to the apostle he twisted his tongue and said: 'Give us your attention, Muhammad, so that we can make you understand.' Then he attacked Islam and reviled it. So God sent down concerning him: 'Hast thou considered those to whom a part of the book has been given how they buy error and wish that you should err as to the way. But God knows best about your enemies. God is sufficient as a friend and helper. Some of the Jews change words from their contexts and say: We hear and disobey; hear thou as one that heareth not and listen to us, twisting their tongues and attacking religion. Had they said, We hear and we obey; hear thou and look at us, it would have been better for them and more upright. But God has cursed them for their unbelief and only a few will believe.' (4:46. This text shows that Muhammad knew (a) that when they said 'We hear' and 'asayma' they were playing on the similar-sounding Hebrew word asinu (with sin) meaning 'we carry out', and (b) that ra'ina to them meant 'our evil one'. It seems, therefore, a probable that ghayra musma'in is not to be understood in the sense given above, but as a vocative, 'O thou that hast not been made to hear', i.e. thou who hast not received a divine revelation. The 'toungue-twisting' is revealed as the sarcastic use of Arabic in a Hebrew sense by a bilingual scholar.)
The apostle spoke to two of the chiefs of the Jewish rabbis 'Abdullah b. Suriya al-A'war and Ka'b b. Asad calling on them to accept Islam, for they knew that he had brought them the truth; but they denied that they knew it and were obstinate in their unbelief. So God sent down concerning them: 'O you to whom the book was sent, Believe in what We have sent down in confirmation of what you have before We efface (your) features and turn them back to front or curse you as We cursed the sabbath-breakers when God's command was carried out'. (4:47)
And those who formed parties of Quraysh and Ghatafan and B. Qurayza were Huyayy and Sallam and Abu Rafi' and al-Rabi' and Abu 'Ammar and Wahwah b. 'Amir, and Haudha b. Qays, the latter three being of B. Wa'il while the rest were of B. al-Nadir. When they came to Quraysh they told them that these were Jewish rabbis, the folk who possessed the first (sacred) book, and they could ask them whether their religion or that of Muhammad was the better. When they did ask them they answered: 'Your religion is better than his and you are on a better path than he and those who follow him.' So God sent down concerning them: 'Hast thou considered those to whom a part of the book has been sent how they believe in al-Jibt and al-Taghut?. And they say of those who disbelieve: These are better guided to the right path than those who believe' as far as the words 'or are they envious of men because God has given them of His bounty. We gave the family of Abraham the book and wisdom and We gave them a great kingdom.' (4:54)
Sukayn and 'Adiy b. Zayd said: 'O Muhammad, we do not know of God's having sent down to mortals anything after Moses.' So God sent down concerning their words: 'We have revealed unto thee as we revealed unto Noah and the prophets after him, and we revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon and we brought to David the Psalms; and apostles We have told thee of before and apostles We have not told thee of; and God spoke directly to Moses; apostles bringing good news and warning that men might have no argument against God after the apostles (had come). God is Mighty, Wise.'
A number of them came in to the apostle and he said to them, 'Surely you know that I am an apostle from God to you.' They replied that they did not know it and would not bear witness to him. So God sent down concerning their words: 'But God testifies concerning what He has sent down to thee. With His knowledge did He send it down and the angels bear witness. And God is sufficient as a witness.'
The apostle went out to the B.al-Nadir to ask their help in the matter of the blood-money of the two 'Amirites whom 'Amr b.Umayya al-Damri had slain. And when they were alone together they said, 'You will not find Muhammad nearer than he is now; so what man wil get on top of the house and throw a stone on him so that we may be rid of him?' 'Amr b.Jihash b. Ka'b volunteered to do so. The apostle got to know of their scheme and he left them and God sent down concerning him and his people's intention: 'O you who believe, remember God's favour to you when a people purposed to stretch out their hands against you and He withheld their hands from you. Fear God and on God let the believers rely.' (5:11)
Nu'man b. Ada' came to the apostle and he invited them to come to God and warned them of His vengeance. They replied: 'You cannot frighten us, Muhammad. We are the sons and the beloved of God' as the Christians say. So God sent down concerning them: 'And the Jews and the Christians say, We are the sons and the beloved of God' as the Christians say. So God sent down concerning them : 'And the Jews and the Christians say, We are the sons and the beloved of God. Say, Then why does He punish you for your sins? Nay you are but mortals of those He has created. He pardons whom He will and He punishes whom He will and to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what lies between them and to Him is the journeying.' (5:18)
The apostle invited the Jews to Islam and made it attractive to them and warned them of God's jealousy and His retribution; but they repulsed him and denied what he brought them. Mu'adh b. Jabal and Sa'd b. 'Ubada and 'Uqba b. Wahb said to them: 'Fear God, for you know right well that he is the apostle of God and you used to speak of him to us before his mission and describe him to us.' Rafi' b. Huraymila and Wahb b. Yahudha said, 'We never said that to you, and God has sent down no book since Moses nor sent an evangelist or warner after him.' So God sent down concerning their words: 'O scripture folk, our apostle has come to you to make things plain to you after a cessation of apostles lest you should say: No evangelist and no warner has come to us when an evangelist and warner has come to you (now). God is able to do all things.'
Then he recounted to them the story of Moses and their opposition to him, and how they disobeyed God's commands through him so that they wandered in the wilderness forty years as a punishment.
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri told me that he heard a learned man of Muzayna telling Sa'id b. al-Musayyab that Abu Hurayra had told them that Jewish rabbis had gathered in their school when the apostle came to Media. A married man had commited adultery with a married woman and they said: 'Send them to Muhammad and ask him what the law about them is and leave the penalty to him. If he prescribes tajbih (which is scourging with a rope of palm fibre smeared with pitch, the blackening of their faces, mounting on two donkeys with their faces to the animal's tail) then follow him, for he is a king and believe in him. If he prescribes stoning for them, he is a prophet so beware lest he deprive you of what you hold.' They brought the pair to Muhammad and explained the position. The prophet walked to meet the rabbis in the school house and called on them to bring out their learned men and the produced 'Abdullah b. Suriya.
One of the B.Qurayza told me that Abu Yasir and Wahb b. Yahudha were with them and the apostle questioned them so that he got to the bottom of their affair until they said (pointing) to 'Abdullah b. Suriya, 'This is the most learned man living in the Torah'.
He was one of the youngest of them and when the apostle was alone with him he put him on his oath as to whether the Torah did not prescribe stoning for adulterers. 'Yes,' he said, 'they know right well, Abu'l-Qasim, that you are a prophet sent (by God) but they envy you.' The apostle went out to them and commanded that the two should be stoned and they were stoned at the door of his mosque among B.Ghanm b. Malik. Afterwards Ibn Suriya disbelieved and denied that the apostle was a prophet. So God sent down concerning them: 'O apostle, let not those who vie with one another in unbelief sadden thee, those who say with their mouths, We believe, but their hears do not believe, those Jews who listen to lies, listening for other people who do not come to thee,' i.e. those who sent others and stayed behind themselves and gave them orders to change the judgement from its context. Then He said: 'They change words from their places, saying, If this be given to you receive it, and if it is not given to you, i.e. the stoning, beware of it'.
Muhammad b, Talha from Isma'il b. Ibrahim from Ibn 'Abbas told me that the apostle ordered them to be stoned, and they were stoned at the door of his mosque. And when the Jew felt the first stone he crouched over the woman to protect her from the stones until both of them were killed. This is what God did for the apostle in exacting the penalty for adultery from the pair.
Salih b. Kaisan from Nafi', freedman of 'Abdullah b. 'Umar from 'Abdullah b. 'Umar, told me: When the apostle gave judgement about them he asked for a Torah. A rabbi set there reading it having put his hand over the verse of stoning. 'Abdullah b. Salam struck the rabbi's hand, saying, 'This, O prophet of God, is the verse of stoning which he refuses to read to you.' The apostle said, 'Woe to you Jews! What has induced you to abandon the judgement of God which you hold in your hands?' They answered: 'The sentence used to be carried out until a man of royal birth and noble origin committed adultery and the king refused to allow him to be stoned. Later another man committed adultery and the king wanted him to be stoned but they said No, not until you stone so-and-so. And when they said that to him they agreed to arrange the matter by tajbih and they did away with all mention of stoning.' The apostle said: 'I am the first to revive the order of God and His book and to practise it.' They were duly stoned and 'Abdullah b. 'Umar said, 'I was among those that stoned them.'
Da'ud b. al-Husayn from 'Ikrima from Ibn 'Abbas said that the verses of The Table which God said: 'Then judge between them or withdraw from them and if you withdraw from them they will do thee no harm. And if thou judgest, judge with fairness, for God loveth those who deal fairly' were sent down concerning the blood-money between B. al-Nadir and B. Qurayza. Those slain from B. al-Nadir were leaders and they wanted the whole bloodwit while B. Qurayza wanted half of it. They referred the matter for arbitration to the apostle, and God sent down that passage concerning them. The apostle ordered that the matter should be settled justly and awarded the bloodwit in equal shares. But God knows which account is correct.
Ka'b b. Asad and Ibn Saluba and his son 'Abdullah and Sha's said one to another, 'Let us go to Muhammad to see if we can seduce him from his religion, for he is only a mortal' ; so they went to him and said: 'You know, Muhammad, that we are the rabbis, nobles, and leaders of the Jews; and if we follow you the rest of the Jews will follow you and not oppose us. Now we have a quarrel outstanding with some of our people and if we believe in you and say that you are truthful will you, if we appoint you arbitrator between us, give judgement in our favour?' The apostle refused to do so and God sent down concerning them: 'And judge between them by what God has sent down and follow not their vain desires; and beware of them lest they seduce thee from some of what God has sent down to thee. And if they turn their backs then know that God wishes to smite them for some of their sins. Many men are evil-doers. Is it that they are seeking the judgement of paganism? Who is better than God in judgement for a people who are certain?' 5:50
Abu Yasir and and Nafi' b. Abu Nafi' and 'Azir and Khalid and Zayd and Izar and Ashya' came to the apostle and asked him about the apostles he believed in. So the apostle said: 'We believe in God and what he has sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord; we make no difference between any one of them. And we are submissibe unto Him.' When he mentioned Jesus, Son of Mary, they denied that he was a prophet, saying, 'We do not believe in Jesus, Son of Mary, or in anyone who believes in him.' So God sent down concerning them: 'O Scripture folk, do you blame us for anything but our belief in God and what He has sent down to us and what was sent down aforetime and because most of you are evil-doers?' 5:59
Rafi' b. Haritha and Sallam b. Mishkam and Malik b. al-Sayf and Rafi' b. Huraymila came to him and said: 'Do you not allege that you follow the religion of Abraham and believe in the Torah which we have and testify that it is the truth from God?' He replied, 'Certainly, but you have sinned and broken the covenant contained therein and concealed what you were ordered to make plain to men, and I dissociate myself from your sin.' They said, 'We hold by what we have. We live according to the guidance and the truth and we do not believe in you and we will not follow you.' So God sent down concerning them: 'Say, O Scripture folk, you have no standing until you observe the Torah and the Gospel and what has been sent down to you from your Lord. What has been sent down to thee from thy Lord will assuredly increase many of them in error and unbelief. But be not sad because of the unbelievimg people.' 5:68
Al-Nahham and Qardam and Bahri came and said to him: 'Do you not know that there is another god with God?' The apostle answererd: 'God, there is no God but He. With that (message) I was sent and that I preach.' God sent down concerning their words: 'Say, What is the greatest testimony? Say God is witness between me and you, and this Quran has been revealed to me that I might warn you by it and whomsoever it reaches. Do you actually testify that with God there are other gods? Say, I do not testify to that. Say He is only One God, and I dissociate myself from what you associate (with Him). Those to whom We sent the book know it as they know their own sons. Those who destroy themselves will not believe.' ( The chage of polytheism made against the Jews is very puzzling and hard to explain. Certainly this passage (Sura 6.19) and the context in which it occurs refers not to the Jews but to the polytheists.)
Rifa'a and Suwayd had hypocritically affected to embrace Islam and some of the Muslims were friendly with them. So God sent down concerning these two men: 'O Believers, choose not as friends those who have chosen your religion to make a jest and game of it from among those who have received the scripture before you, nor the unbelievers, and fear God if you are believers', as far as the words 'And when they come to you they say, We believe, but they came in in unbelief and they went out with it and God knows best about what they are concealing.' 5:61
Jabal and Shamwil came to the apostle and said: 'Tell us when the hour will be if you are a prophet as you say.' So God sent down concerning them: 'They will ask you about the hour when it will come to pass. Say, only my Lord knows of it. None but He will reveal it at its proper time. It is heavy in the heavens and the earth. Suddenly will it come upon you. They will ask you as though you knew about it. Say only God knows about it, but most men do not know'. (7:187)
Sallam and Nu'man b. Aufa and Mahmud b. Dihya and Sha's and Malik came and said to him: 'How can we follow you when you have abandoned our Qibla and you do not allege that 'Uzayr is the son of God?' So God sent down concerning these words: 'The Jews says that 'Uzayr is the son of God and the Christians say the Messiah is the son of God. That is what they say with their mouths copying the speech of those who disbelieved aforetime. God fight them! How perverse they are' to the end of the passage. 9:30
Mahmud b. Sayhan and Nu'man b. Ada' and Bahri and 'Uzayr and Sallam came to him and said: 'Is it true, Muhammad, that what you have brought is the truth from God? For our part we cannot see that it is arranged as the Torah is.' He answered, 'You know quite well that it is from God; you will find it written in the Torah which you have. If men and jinn came together to produce its like they could not.' Finhas and 'Abdullah b. Suriya and Ibn Saluba and Kinana b. al Rabi and Ashya' and Ka'b b. al-Asad and Shamwil and Jabal were there and they said: 'Did neither men nor jinn tell you this, Muhammad?' He said: 'You know well that it is from God and that I am the apostle of God. You will find it written in the Torah you have.' They said: 'When God sends an apostle He does for him what he wishes, so bring a book down to us from heaven that we may read it and know what it is, otherwise we will produce one like the one you bring.' So God sent down concerning their words: 'Say, Though men and jinn should meet to produce the like of this Quran they would not produce its like though one helped the other'
Huyayy, Ka'b, Abu Rafi', Ashya', and Shamwil said to 'Abdullah b. Salam when he became a Muslim, 'There is no prophecy among the Arabs, but your master is a king.' Then they went to the apostle and asked him about Dhu'l-Qarnayn and he told them what God had sent him about him from what he had already narrated to Quraysh. They were of those who ordered Quraysh to ask the apostle about him when they sent al-Nadr and 'Uqba to them. 17:88
I was told that Sa'id b. Jubayr said: A number of Jews came to the apostle and said: 'Now, Muhammad, Allah created creation, but who created Allah?' The apostle was so angry that his colour changed and he rushed at them being indignant for his Lord. Gabriel came and quietened him saying, 'Calm yourself, O Muhammad.' And an answer to what they asked came to him from God: 'They think not of God as He ought to be thought of; the whole earth will be in His grasp at the day of resurrection and the heavens folded up in His right hand. Glorified and Exalted is He above what they associate with Him.' 39:67
'Utba b. Muslim freedman of the B. Taym from Abu Salama b. 'Abdu'l-Rahman from Abu Hurayra told me: I heard the apostle say, 'Men question their prophet to such an extent that one would almost say, Now God created creation but who created God? And if they say that, say ye: He God is One,'. Then let a man spit three times to the left and say 'I take refuge in God from Satan the damned'.
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