I heard that when Prophet Muhammad started preaching Islam, the Jews
were very upset and they wanted to test him to find out whether he was
a true Prophet, so they prepared 40 difficult questions and asked him.
Is this true, if yes,please, explain what are the 40 questions and
what were the answers given by the Prophet Muhammad?
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad
is His slave and Messenger.
No doubt that the Jews disbelieved in what Allaah revealed to our
Prophet Muhammad and hated it. They were envious of him - except a
few of them - because he was not one of them, i.e. did not descend
from the children of Israel .
Allaah Says (which means): } And when there came to them a Book[i.e.
the Quran] from Allaah confirming that which was with them - although
before they usedto pray for victory against those who disbelieved -
but [then] when there came to them that which they recognized, they
disbelieved in it; so the curse of Allaah will be upon the
disbelievers. How wretched is that for which they sold themselves -
that they would disbelieve in what Allaah has revealed through [their]
outrage that Allaah would send down His favor upon whom He wills from
among His servants. So they returned having [earned] wrath upon wrath.
And for the disbelievers is a humiliating punishment .} [Quran
2:89-90].
However, we do not know of any authentic Hadeeth stating that they
prepared forty questions for the Prophet and asked him about them.
What is proved in the books of Imaans Al-Bukhaari and Ahmad as well as
otherauthentic sources is that they asked him seven questions.
Al-Bukhaari reported that Anas narrated that when 'Abdullaah Ibn
Salaam heard about the arrival of the Prophet to Madeenah, he came to
himand asked him about some things saying: "I will ask about three
things that none except a messenger knows: what is the first sign of
the Hour? What is the first meal that the dwellers of Paradise eat?
Why is it that the child sometimes resembles his father and other
times his mother?" The Prophet said:"Jibreel (Gabriel) informed about
this earlier. Ibn Salaam said:"That is the Jews' enemy from the
angels." The Prophet said: "As for the first sign of the Hour, it is
a fire that gathers the people from the East and the West. As for the
first meal that the dwellers of Paradise eat, it is a portion of the
fish liver. As for the child, if the water (i.e. sperm)of the man
comes before that of the woman, the child resembles his father and if
the mother's water comes first then the child resembles her.
Thereupon, Ibn Salaam said: "I bear witness that none has the right of
being worshipped but Allaah and that you are His messenger." Then Ibn
Salaam said: "O Prophet of Allaah, the Jews are people of falsehood.
So ask them about me before they realize that I havebecome Muslim.
The Jews came and the Prophet asked them:"How do you grade 'Abdullaah
Ibn Salaam within your community." They said: "Our best and the son
of our best." Thereupon, the Prophet said:"What if 'Abdullaah Ibn
Salaam becomes Muslim?" They said:"May Allaah protect
him from that!" The Prophet then repeated the same questions and the
Jews repeated the same answers. At that time, 'Abdullaah Ibn Salaam
came out to them and said: 'I bear witness that none has the right to
be worshipped but Allaah and that Muhammad is His messenger.'
Thereupon, they (theJews) said: "He is our worst and the son of our
worst," and demeaned him. Ibn Salaam said: 'This is what I feared, O
Prophet of Allaah."
Ahmad reported that Ibn Abbaas said: "A group of Jewscame one day to
the Prophet and said: 'O Abu Al-Qaasim, tell us some things that only
true messengers of Allaah know.' The Prophet said: "Ask me about
whatever you wish, but promise me by the Name of Allaah and by the
covenant Prophet Ya'qoob took from his sons, that if I tell something
that you know, then you will follow me and become Muslims." They
said:"That's for you." Thereupon they said: "Tell us about the
following four things: tell us about the meal that Israel forbade
himself before the revelation of the Torahand tell us about the water
(sperm) of the woman and the water of the man how is the male child
formed from that? And tell us this illiterate Prophet during his
sleep and who is his guardian from the angels." The Prophet said: "Do
you accept by the covenant of Allaah that you will follow me if I
inform you?" They gave him as much covenant and promise as he wished.
Then the Prophet said: "I ask you by the One Who revealed the Torah
to Moosaa do you know that Israel (Ya'qoob ) fell badly sick and his
sickness took a long time, then he made a vow to Allaah that he would
forbid on himself the food he liked most if Allaah cures him, and the
food he liked most was camel meat and the drink was camel milk. They
said:"Yes." He said:
"O Allaah testify against them." Then he said: "I ask you by Allaah,
the One Who has no partners Who revealed the Torah to Moosaa do you
know that the man's water is white and thick and that the woman's
water is yellow and thin. Any of the two waters gets above the other
gets the resemblance of the child in his sex and charactersby the will
of Allaah. If the water of the man gets over the woman it is a male
by the Will of Allaah and if the water of the woman gets above that of
the man then it is a female by the Will of Allaah. They said: 'By
Allaah what you said is true.' The Prophet said: "O Allaah testify
against them."
Then he said: "I ask you by the One Who revealed Torah to Moosaa do
you know that the eyes of this illiterate Prophet sleep but his heart
does not." They said: 'By Allaah that is true.' He said: "O Allaah,
testify against them." They said: 'You, now tell us about your
guardian from the angels, we will stay with you or leave you according
to that.' He said: "My guardian is Jibreel (Gabriel) and Allaah never
sent any Prophet but he was his guardian." The Jews said: 'So, wewill
separate from you. Had your guardian been another angel not Jibreel,
we would have followed you and believed in what you brought.'
The Prophet said: "But what prevents you from believing in him?" They
said: 'He is our enemy.' Then Allaah revealed thefollowing verses
(which means): } Say, "Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel - it is [none
but] he who has brought it [i.e. the Quran] down upon your heart, [O
Muhammad], by permission of Allaah, …} [Quran 2:97] . Allaah Says
(which means): } And when aMessenger from Allaah came to them
confirming that which was with them, a party of those who had been
given the Scripture threw away the Book of Allaah behind their backs
as if they did not know .} [Quran 2:101] . Allaah Says (which means):
} So they returned having [earned] wrath upon wrath { [Quran 2:90].
Allaah Knows best.
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