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We have already explained in our Tafsīr, under Allah’s words in Sūrat al-Baqarah: “Say, ‘If the Final Abode with Allah is reserved exclusively for you rather than for other people, then wish for death, if you are truthful.’ But they will never wish for it because of what their own hands have sent ahead; and Allah well knows the wrongdoers” (2:94–95). A similar challenge appears in Sūrat al-Jumuʿah: “Say, ‘O you who are Jews, if you claim that you are the friends of Allah to the exclusion of other people, then wish for death, if you are truthful.’ Yet they will never wish for it because of what their hands have sent ahead; and Allah well knows the wrongdoers” (62:6–7).
There we presented the various exegetical views and concluded that the Prophet ﷺ was calling them to mutual imprecation (mubāhalah): each side would invoke death upon the one who was in the wrong, whether among them or among the Muslims. They shrank from this because they knew they had wronged themselves, and the invocation would rebound upon them and its evil consequences would be theirs.
He challenged the Christians of Najrān in the same manner when they disputed with him about Jesus, son of Mary. Allah commanded him to invite them to mubāhalah, saying: “If anyone disputes with you about him after the knowledge that has come to you, then say, ‘Come, let us summon our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves; then let us pray earnestly and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars’” (3:61).
He likewise challenged the idolaters in a form of mubāhalah when Allah said: “Say, ‘Whoever is in error—the Most Merciful will grant him an extension…’” (19:75). We have discussed these passages at length in our Tafsīr, and that should suffice. All praise and bounty belong to Allah.
Another ḥadīth
This narration contains the Jews’ admission that he ﷺ is the Messenger of Allah and shows them referring their dispute to him, albeit with a blameworthy intention. They agreed among themselves that if his verdict suited their desires they would follow it, but if not they should beware of him—an attitude for which Allah censured them in His Noble Book.
ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak said: Muʿammar related to us, from al-Zuhrī, who said:
I was sitting with Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and with him was a man whom he treated with deference. The man was from Muzaynah; his father had witnessed al-Ḥudaybiyah and had been a companion of Abū Hurayrah. He said:
Abū Hurayrah reported: I was sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when a group of Jews arrived—a delegation concerning a man and a woman who had committed adultery. Some of them said to others, “Let us go to this Prophet; he is a prophet sent with leniency. If he gives us a ruling that falls short of stoning, we will adopt it and, when we meet Allah, plead that we confirmed one of His prophets.”
Murrah narrated from al-Zuhrī: “But if he commands us to stone, we shall defy him, for we have already defied Allah regarding the stoning He prescribed for us in the Torah.”