Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/386)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

on that night outweighs—by far—the worship of one thousand months besides it.

Likewise, the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ gave charity in moments such that, were anyone else to donate gold equal in mass to Mount Uḥud, it would not equal even a single mudd—or half a mudd—of dates offered by any one of them.

As for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Allah commissioned him to preach at the age of forty, and He took him to Himself when he was sixty-three, according to the most well-known report. Yet within those twenty-three years he surpassed all the prophets before him in beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds—even Noah, who remained among his people for “a thousand years minus fifty,” calling them to worship Allah alone with no partner, laboring in obedience day and night, morning and evening. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and upon all the prophets together.

Thus this community has been ennobled and its reward multiplied through the blessing, honor, and grandeur of its Prophet. Allah the Exalted says:
“O you who believe, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger; He will grant you a double share of His mercy, provide you with a light by which you shall walk, and forgive you—for Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful—so that the People of the Scripture may know that they have no power over Allah’s bounty. The bounty is entirely in Allah’s hand; He grants it to whom He wills, and Allah is the Lord of tremendous bounty.” (al-Ḥadīd 57:28–29)

Section

Reports concerning the Children of Israel are exceedingly numerous in the Qur’an and in the Prophetic Sunnah. Were we to trace them all, this book would become unduly lengthy. We have therefore confined ourselves to what Imām Abū ʿAbd-Allāh al-Bukhārī has recorded in the present volume; that suffices and satisfies—it serves as both a reminder and a representative sample of the subject. Allah knows best.

As for the Israelite reports cited by many Qur’anic commentators and historians, they are extremely abundant. Some are sound and accord with reality, yet many—indeed most—of those repeated by storytellers are outright fabrications devised by their heretics and deviants. These reports fall into three categories: there are those that are authentic because they agree with what Allah has related in His Book or what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has reported; there are those that are clearly false because they contradict the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger; and there are those that could be either true or false—and this is the kind

(1) “An-naṣīf” literally means “half”; it is also said to be a measure slightly less than a mīqāl. Here the author is drawing on a hadith narrated by al-Bukhārī (no. 3673) in the chapter on the virtues of the Companions, under the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Do not revile my Companions; even if any one of you were to spend gold as much as the mountain of Uhud, it would not equal a mudd or a naṣīf of theirs.” It is likewise transmitted in Muslim (nos. 2540–2541) in the chapter forbidding the reviling of the Companions. (2) Not found in manuscript B. (3) In manuscript B: added “sunnah.” (4) In the printed edition: “and the sunnah.” (5) Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, vol. 6, p. 494 ff., in the chapter on the Prophets, “What Was Related about the Children of Israel”; the entire passage is not reproduced here in full.

فيها أفضل من عبادة ألف شهر سواها. وهؤلاء أصحاب محمد ﷺ أنفقوا في أوقاتٍ لو أنفقه غيرُهم من الذهب مثل أُحُدٍ ما بلغ مُدَّ أَحَدِهم ولا نَصيفهُ (١) من تمر. وهذا رسول الله ﷺ بعثه الله على رأس أربعين سنة (٢) من عمره، وقَبَضَه وهو ابن ثلاثٍ وستين (٣) على المشهور، وقد برز في هذه المدة التي هي ثلاث وعشرون سنةً في العلوم النافعة والأعمال الصالحة على سائر الأنبياء قبله، حتى على نوحٍ الذي لبث في قومه ألف سنةٍ إلا خمسين عامًا يدعوهم إلى عبادة الله وحدَه لا شريك له، ويعمل بطاعة الله ليلًا ونهارًا، صباحًا ومساءً، صلواتُ الله وسلامُه عليه وعلى سائر الأنبياء أجمعين. فهذه الأمة إنما شُرِّفت وتضاعف ثوابُها ببركة سيادة نبيّها وشرفِه وعَظَمته، كما قال الله تعالى: ﴿يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَآمِنُوا بِرَسُولِهِ يُؤْتِكُمْ كِفْلَيْنِ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ نُورًا تَمْشُونَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (٢٨) لِئَلَّا يَعْلَمَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَلَّا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِنْ فَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَأَنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ﴾ [الحديد: ٣٨: ٣٩] . * * * [فصل] وأخبارُ بني إسرائيل كثيرةٌ جدًا في الكتاب وفي السنة (٤) النبوية، ولو ذهبنا نتقصَّى ذلك لطال الكتابُ، ولكن ذكرنا ما ذكره الإمام أبو عبد الله البخاري في هذا الكتاب (٥) ، ففيه مَقنَعٌ وكفايةٌ، وهو تذكرة وأُنموذج لهذا الباب والله أعلم. وأما الأخبار الإسرائيلية فيما يذكره كثيرٌ من المفسرين والمؤرخين، فكثيرةٌ جدًا، ومنها ما هو صحيح موافق لما وقَعَ، وكثيرٌ منها بل أكثرُها مما يذكره القصَّاص مكذوبٌ مفترًى وضعه زنادقتُهم وضُلَّالُهم، وهي ثلاثة أقسام: منها ما هو صحيح، لموافقته ما قصَّه اللهُ في كتابه أو أخبرَ به رسولُ الله ﷺ . ومنها ما هو معلوم البُطلان؛ لمخالفته كتاب الله وسُنة رسوله. ومنها ما يحتمل الصدق والكذب، فهذا الذي

(١) النصيف: النصف، وقيل مكيال دون المد. وكلام المؤلف هنا مأخوذ من حديث رواه البخاري: رقم (٣٦٧٣)، في فضائل الصحابة، باب قول النبي ﷺ : "لو كنت متخذًا خليلًا". ولفظه:"لا تسبوا أصحابي، فلو أن أحدكم أنفق مثل أحُدٍ ذهبًا ما بلغ مُدَّ أحدهم ولا نَصِيفَهُ". ورواه مسلم (٢٥٤٠) و (٢٥٤١) في فضائل الصحابة، باب تحريم سب الصحابة. (٢) ليست في ب. (٣) زاد في ب: سنة. (٤) في ط: والسنة. (٥) صحيح البخاري (٦/ ٤٩٤)، وما بعدها، في الأنبياء، باب ما ذكر عن بني إسرائيل، ولم يأت به كله.