and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

They retorted, “He is the worst of us and the son of the worst of us,” and they heaped scorn upon him. He said, “This is precisely what I feared and was on guard against.”

Muslim relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of Thawban, who said:
“I was standing beside the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when a rabbi from among the Jews arrived and said, ‘Peace be upon you, O Muhammad.’ I gave him a shove that nearly knocked him over.

He asked, ‘Why did you push me?’

I replied, ‘Why do you not say, “O Messenger of Allah”?’

He answered, ‘I simply called him by the name his own people gave him.’

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then said, ‘My name, which my family gave me, is indeed Muhammad.’

The Jew said, ‘I have come to ask you something.’

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘Will it benefit you if I inform you?’

He replied, ‘I will listen with my own ears.’ He was fiddling with a small stick he had in his hand.

The Prophet said to him, ‘Ask.’

The Jew asked, ‘Where will people be on the day when the earth is exchanged for another earth, and the heavens likewise?’

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—answered, ‘In darkness before the bridge.’

He said, ‘Who will be the first to cross?’

He replied, ‘The poor among the Emigrants.’

The Jew asked, ‘What will be their gift when they enter?’

He said, ‘The extra lobe of a fish’s liver.’

He asked, ‘And what will be their food…’