They exclaimed, “Woe to you, man! Is it really true that people will be resurrected after death, taken to a realm containing both Paradise and Hell, and there repaid for their deeds?”

He replied, “Yes—by Him in whose Name oaths are sworn. Indeed, I would wish that my share of that Fire were no more than this: you would kindle the largest furnace in your house, heat it to its utmost, hurl me into it, close it over me, and that thereby I escape the Fire tomorrow.”

They asked, “So what is the sign of that?”

He said, “A prophet will be sent from the direction of these lands,” and he gestured with his hand toward Mecca and Yemen.

They asked, “When shall we see him?” Casting his eyes about, he noticed me—I was lying in the courtyard of my family’s doorway, the youngest of those present—and said, “If this boy lives out his full span, he will meet him.”

Not many days and nights had passed before Allah sent His Messenger ﷺ, while that man was still alive among us. We believed in him and affirmed him, but the Jew rejected him out of envy and spite. We said, “Man, are you not the one who made these very claims and informed us of them?” He answered, “He is not the one.” (1)

Ibn Ishaq said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah told me—reporting from some of our elders—that no Arab knew more about the affair of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ than we did. Jews lived among us, people of Scripture, whereas we were idol worshippers. Whenever we did something they disliked, they would say, “A prophet is about to be sent; his time is at hand. We shall follow him and then kill you as ʿĀd and Iram were slain.” (2) But when Allah sent His Messenger ﷺ, we followed him,