and the shackles that had weighed upon them. So those who believe in him, revere him, support him, and follow the light that was sent down with him—it is they who shall prosper. (Qurʾān 7:157)

Imām Aḥmad (1) said: Ismāʿīl related to us, from al-Jurayrī, from Abū Ṣakhr al-ʿUqaylī (2), who said:

A Bedouin told me, “I brought a shipment of goods to Madinah during the lifetime of the Messenger of God ﷺ. After completing my sales I said to myself, ‘I will surely go and meet this man and listen to him.’

“He met me while walking between Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and I followed in their footsteps until they came upon a Jew who had spread out the Torah before him and was reciting it, consoling himself with it over a son of his who had died—one of the finest and handsomest young men.

“The Messenger of God ﷺ said to him, ‘I adjure you by the One Who sent down the Torah: do you find me in your Book, with my description and the place of my emergence?’ He shook his head to indicate ‘no.’

“His son then said, ‘Yes, by the One Who sent down the Torah, we certainly find your description and your emergence in our Book. I bear witness that there is no god but God and that you are the Messenger of God.’

“The Prophet ﷺ thereupon said, ‘Make room for your brother, the Jew.’ He then personally supervised his burial, shrouding, and the funeral prayer.”

This isnād is sound, and there are corroborating reports in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik ﵁.

Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghayyāth, Abū Baḥr, narrated to us; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb narrated to us, from his father, from al-Faltān ibn ʿĀṣim—who mentioned that his maternal uncle said:

“I was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when his gaze fixed on a man: a Jew wearing a shirt, trousers, and sandals. The Prophet ﷺ began speaking to him while he kept saying, ‘O Messenger of God!’ The Messenger of God ﷺ asked, ‘Do you testify that I am the Messenger of God?’ He replied, ‘No.’

“The Prophet ﷺ then asked, ‘Do you read the Torah?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you read the Gospel?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And the Qurʾān?’ ‘No, but if you wished, I could recite it.’

“The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Since you read the Torah and the Gospel, do you find me mentioned as a prophet?’ He answered, ‘We do find your description and your emergence; when you appeared we hoped you would be from among us. But when we saw you, we realized you were not him.’

“The Messenger of God ﷺ asked, ‘Why so, O Jew?’ He said, ‘We find it written that seventy thousand of his community will enter Paradise without reckoning, and we see with you only a handful of people.’

“The Messenger of God ﷺ replied, ‘My community is larger than seventy thousand—indeed, seventy thousand upon seventy thousand.’”