and I remind you of the Days of Allah among the Children of Israel: do you know that God decreed in the Torah that whoever commits adultery after having been married is to be stoned?”

He answered, “By Allah, yes. By Allah, O Abū al-Qāsim, they know that you are a prophet sent by God, but they are jealous of you.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then went out and ordered that the two offenders be stoned, and they were stoned at the gate of his mosque in the quarter of Banū Ghanm ibn Mālik ibn al-Najjār.

He continued: “After that Ibn Ṣūriyā disbelieved, so Allah revealed: ‘O Messenger, let not those who race one another into disbelief grieve you…’ (al-Māʾidah 5:41) and the following verses.”

The name of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣūriyā al-Aʿwar is also mentioned in the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar and others, through authentic chains that we have explained in the Tafsīr.

Another narration: Ḥammād ibn Salamah said: Thābit related to us from Anas that a Jewish boy used to serve the Prophet ﷺ. When the boy fell ill, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to visit him and found his father at his bedside, reading the Torah. The Prophet ﷺ said to him, “O Jew, I adjure you by Allah who sent down the Torah to Moses: do you find in the Torah my description, my attributes, and the place of my emergence?” He replied, “No.” But the boy said, “Indeed, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we do find your description, your attributes, and the place of your emergence in the Torah, and I testify that there is no god but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet then said to his Companions, “Remove this man from beside his head and take care of your brother.” Al-Bayhaqī narrated this through the same chain with these very words.

Another ḥadīth: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah reported—ʿAffān narrated to us, Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from ʿAtāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Abū ʿUbaydah ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from his father—who said: Allah sent His Prophet ﷺ to admit a man into Paradise. The Prophet ﷺ entered a church where a Jew was reciting the Torah. When he reached the Prophet’s description, he stopped. In another corner lay a sick man. The Prophet ﷺ asked, “Why did you stop?” The sick man said, “They came upon the description of a prophet, so they fell silent.” The sick man then crawled over, took the Torah, and said, “Lift your hand.” He read until he reached that description and declared, “This is your description and the description of your community. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” He then died, and the Prophet ﷺ said, “Attend to your brother.”

Another ḥadīth: The Prophet ﷺ once stood at a study-circle of the Jews and said, “O assembly of Jews, accept Islam! By Him besides whom there is no deity, you know that I am the Messenger of Allah sent to you.” They replied, “You have conveyed the message, Abū al-Qāsim.” He said, “That is what I desired.”