And he was the one who said, “Indeed, Allah is poor, and we are rich” (Aal Imran 3:181).

Atiyyah al-Awfi narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: The Jews said that Ezra was the son of Allah only because Ezra was among them while they possessed the Torah and the Ark was in their midst. Then they neglected the Torah and acted contrary to the truth, so Allah removed the Ark from them and caused them to forget the Torah, erasing it from their hearts. Ezra then supplicated Allah and implored Him to restore to them what had been erased from their hearts. While he was praying and humbly beseeching Allah, exalted is He, a light descended from heaven and entered his body, whereupon the Torah was restored to him. He announced to his people, saying, “My people, Allah has given me the Torah; He has restored it to me!” The people gathered around him ⦗156/a⦘, and he taught them. They remained thus for as long as Allah, exalted is He, willed. Then, after the Ark had gone from among them, it descended again. When they saw the Ark, they compared what it contained with that which Ezra had been teaching them and found it to be the same. They said, “Ezra was given this only because he is the son of Allah.” (1)

Al-Kalbi said: When Nebuchadnezzar overcame the Children of Israel and killed those among them who could recite the Torah, Ezra was still a young boy. Nebuchadnezzar considered him too young and did not kill him. When the Children of Israel returned to Jerusalem, none of them was able to recite the Torah. So Allah sent Ezra to renew the Torah for them and to make him a sign for them after one hundred years. It is said that an angel came to him with a vessel containing water and gave him to drink from it, whereupon the Torah was impressed upon his heart. When he came to them, he said, “I am Ezra,” but they denied him and said, “If you are as you claim, then dictate the Torah to us.” So he wrote it down for them. Then a man said, “My father told me, on the authority of my grandfather, that the Torah had been placed in a jar and buried in a vineyard.” They went with him until they brought it out, and compared it with what Ezra had written for them. They found that he had not left out a single letter. They said, “Allah would not cast the Torah into a man’s heart unless he were His son.” It was then that the Jews said, “Ezra is the son of Allah.”

As for the Christians, they said, “The Messiah is the son of Allah.” The reason for this was that, for eighty-one years after Jesus was raised up, they had remained upon the religion of Islam: they prayed toward the direction of prayer and fasted Ramadan. Then war broke out between them and the Jews. Among the Jews was a courageous man called Paul, who killed a number of Jesus’s companions. He then said to the Jews, “If the truth is with Jesus, then we have disbelieved in him and the Fire will be our final abode. We will be the losers if they enter Paradise while we enter the Fire. I shall devise a scheme and lead them astray until they enter the Fire.” He had a horse called the Eagle, upon which he fought. He hamstrung his horse, feigned remorse, and placed dust upon his head. The Christians asked him, “Who are you?” He replied, “Paul, your enemy. I was called from heaven: ‘There can be no repentance for you unless you become a Christian.’ And I have repented.” So they admitted him into the church, and he entered a house