The Acknowledgement of His Prophethood By The People of The Book

Ka'b Al-Ahbar said: 'We find the Messenger's (peace be upon him) description in the Torah: Muhammad Ibn 'Abdullah, My chosen servant. His birthplace is Makkah, and his migration destination is Madinah. He is neither rude, nor harsh nor uproarious in the markets.

Abu Hurayrah (radiyAllahu 'anhu) conveyed that the Messenger of Allah came to Bayt al-Midras (A school in Madinah where the Jews used to learn the Torah) and said: 'Come out to me and I shall teach you.'

They called out Abdullah Ibn Suria, so the Messenger of Allah had a private word with him wherein he discussed matters of religion, Allah's blessings upon him, He fed them manna and quails, while the clouds were shading them, he said: "Do you know that I am the Messenger of Allah?'"

He said: 'Yes. By Allah, I do. These people do as well, your description is clarified in the Torah, but they envy you.' He said: ' So why don't you follow me?' He said:'I hate to go against my people, I hope that they follow you and embrace Islam, and so shall I.'

Ibn Abbas (radiy Allahu anhuma) narrated that the Jews of Qurayza, Nadir, Fadak and khaybar had the Prophet's (peace be upon him) description in their books before his advent and knew that he would migrate to Madinah.

When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was born, the Jewish scholars said: 'Ahmad was born tonight.' When he became a Prophet, they said:'Ahmad has became a Prophet.' They knew that, acknowledged it and expressed it but jealousy and transgression prevented them from following him.

'Abdu'l-Hamid Ibn Ja'far conveyed from his father that Al-Zubayr Ibn Bata, the most knowledgeable of the Jews, he used to say: 'I found a book that my father used to teach me, where it was said: Ahmad is a Prophet, whose traits are so and so.' Al-Zubayr used to say that after the death of his father but before the advent of the Prophet. As soon as he heard that the Prophet hadd emerged in Makkah, he took that book, erased it, concealed the matter of the Prophet and said: 'He is not true.'

Book Excerpt
Title: The Illustrious Life of Muhammad 
By: Imam Ibn al-Jawzi
Pgs: 47-48
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