by the One who sent down the Torah to Moses: do you know that this Prophet’s eyes sleep while his heart does not?” They answered, “Indeed, yes.” He said, “O Allah, bear witness against them.” They then said, “Now tell us who your guardian among the angels is; only then shall we decide whether to stay with you or leave you.” He replied, “My guardian is Gabriel, and Allah has never sent a prophet without appointing Gabriel as his guardian.” They said, “Then we part company with you. Had your guardian been anyone else, we would have pledged allegiance to you and believed in you.” He asked, “And why is that?” They replied, “Because he is our enemy among the angels.” Thereupon Allah revealed: “Say, whoever is an enemy to Gabriel—for it is he who has brought it down upon your heart …” (Q 2:97), and He also revealed: “So they incurred wrath upon wrath” (Q 2:90).

Yazīd ibn Hārūn reported: Shuʿbah narrated to us from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salamah, from Ṣafwān ibn ʿAssāl, who said: A Jew said to his companion, “Let us go to this Prophet and question him.” The other replied, “Do not call him a prophet; if he hears you say ‘prophet,’ he will have four eyes.” The two of them went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked him about the meaning of nine clear signs. He said, “Do not associate anything with Allah; do not kill the soul that Allah has made sacred; do not steal; do not commit adultery; do not practice sorcery; do not deliver an innocent person to someone in authority so that he kills him; do not consume usury; do not flee the battlefield; and do not slander a chaste woman”—Shuʿbah was uncertain about this last clause—“and you, in particular, O community of Jews, must not transgress on the Sabbath.” They kissed his hands and feet and said, “We testify that you are a prophet.” He asked, “What, then, prevents you from accepting Islam?” They replied, “David asked his Lord that prophethood should never cease among his descendants. We fear that if we embrace Islam, the Jews will kill us.”