So we said, “Yes indeed; the custodianship (ḥijābah) is in our hands.”
We said, “Yes indeed; the watering service (siqāyah) is with us.”
We said, “Indeed so.” And he mentioned other distinctions of the same kind.

They would even send to the People of the Scripture to ask them about his affair—peace and blessings be upon him.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: A shaykh from Egypt, who arrived here some forty-odd years ago, related to me from ʿIkrimah, the client of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“Quraysh dispatched al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ to the Jewish rabbis in Yathrib. They told them, ‘Ask them about Muḥammad, describe him to them, and recount his statements, for they are the people of the earlier Scripture and they possess knowledge of the prophets that we do not.’ So the two envoys set out until they reached Yathrib, where they questioned the Jewish scholars about the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, describing to them his circumstances and some of his words.”