Imām Aḥmad (1) relates: Musa ibn Dāwūd narrated to us, Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Hilāl ibn ʿAlī, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, who said:
“I met ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and asked him, ‘Tell me about the description of the Messenger of God ﷺ in the Torah.’
He replied, ‘Indeed—by God—he is described in the Torah exactly as he is described in the Qur’an:
“O Prophet, We have surely sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner” (al-Aḥzāb 45),
and as a protection for the unlettered. ‘You are My servant and My Messenger; I have called you al-Mutawakkil (the Reliant upon God). You are neither harsh nor hard-hearted, nor do you raise your voice in the marketplaces. You do not repay evil with evil; rather, you pardon and forgive. God will not take your soul until He has straightened through you the crooked religion, so that people will say, “There is no god but God.” Through you He will open blind eyes, deaf ears, and sealed hearts.’”
Al-Bukhārī (5) transmitted this ḥadīth from Muḥammad ibn Sinān al-ʿAwqī, from Fulayḥ with the same chain. He also recorded it (6) from ʿAbd Allāh—said to be ibn Rajāʾ, and it has also been said ibn Ṣāliḥ (7)—from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Salamah, from Hilāl ibn ʿAlī (8), with wording close to the above but containing an additional detail.
Ibn Jarīr (9) likewise reported it on the authority of Fulayḥ, from Hilāl, from ʿAṭāʾ, adding: ʿAṭāʾ said, “I then met Kaʿb and asked him about it, and he did not differ by so much as a single letter.”
Al-Bukhārī also cited it in the Book of Sales (10), saying: Saʿīd narrated it from Hilāl, from ʿAṭāʾ, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī (11) said: Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faḍl al-Qaṭṭān informed us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us, Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān (12) narrated to us, Abū Ṣāliḥ narrated to us, al-Layth narrated to us; Khālid ibn Yazīd related to me, from Saʿīd ibn
(1) Musnad al-Imam Ahmad (2:174).
(2) In the editions of al-Ḥākim and al-Ṭabarānī it reads “no harshness nor coarseness,” a reading also attested by Musnad al-Imam Ahmad; the hadith is sahih (authentic).
(3) In the Ṭabarānī edition it reads “nor shouting in the markets,” a reading likewise confirmed by al-Ḥākim and Musnad al-Imam Ahmad. Sakhāb (shouting) derives from sakhb, meaning to raise one’s voice in a dispute; it is also written with an emphatic ṣād instead of sīn. See al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 4:343.
(4) As in al-Ḥākim and al-Ṭabarānī: “until he establishes thereby the crooked way.” In the Musnad it likewise reads “until he establishes thereby the crooked way.” Ibn Ḥajar explains in al-Fatḥ that al-ʿAwjāʾ refers to the Arabs’ religious practice, described as “crooked” due to their idol worship; “establishing it” signifies guiding its people from disbelief to faith.
(5) al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 2125, Book of Sales, chapter “The Disapproval of Loud Talk in Marketplaces.”
(6) al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 4838, in the Tafsir section under the chapter “Indeed We have sent you as a Witness, a Bearer of Glad Tidings, and a Warner.” It appears both as mu‘allaq (disconnected) and as musnad (continuous); see also al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 4:343 and 8:585.
(7) In al-Fatḥ al-Bārī: ʿAbd Allah ibn Maslama al-Qaʿnabi. He notes this is the narration of Abu Bakr and Abu Ali ibn al-Sakkan; in other sources it appears simply as “ʿAbd Allah” without a nisba, prompting Abu Masʿud to waver between identifying him as ibn Rijāʾah or as ibn Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth. See al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 8:585.
(8) In the editions of al-Ḥākim and al-Ṭabarānī it reads “ʿAlawiyyah,” a reading confirmed by al-Bukhari; her biography is provided in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (11:82).
(9) It was reported by Ibn Jarir al-Ṭabarī in his Tafsir (9:83) on verse 157 of Sūrah al-Aʿrāf. The hadith via the mentioned chain, with the indicated addition, also appears in al-Tabaqāt (1:362).
(10) This refers to al-Bukhari’s Book of Sales; see al-Fatḥ al-Bārī 4:343.
(11) Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī (1:376).
(12) al-Maʿrifah wa-al-Tārīkh (3:274), in the section of texts excerpted from its lost volume.