whereas they rejected him. Concerning us and them Allah Most High revealed: “They had formerly prayed for victory over those who disbelieved, yet when there came to them what they recognized, they rejected it; so the curse of Allah rests upon the disbelievers” (Qur’an 2:89) (1).

Al-Ḥākim and others relate—through Ibn Abī Najīḥ from ʿAlī al-Azdī—that the Jews used to say, “O Allah, send forth this Prophet so that he may judge between us and the rest of mankind.” (2)

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them): The Jews of Khaybar were at war with Ghatafān, and whenever (3) they met in battle the Jews of Khaybar were defeated. They would then resort to the following supplication: “O Allah, we ask You by the right of Muhammad, the unlettered Prophet whom You promised to bring forth for us at the end of time—grant us victory over them.” Each time they fought they invoked this prayer and thus routed Ghatafān; but when the Prophet ﷺ was actually sent, they disbelieved in him (4). Thereupon Allah revealed: “They had formerly prayed for victory over those who disbelieved…” (Qur’an 2:89)—that is, because of you, O Muhammad—“…so the curse of Allah rests upon the disbelievers.”

The verb yastaftiḥūn means “they sought victory.”

Al-Ḥākim and others also report that when the Banū al-Naḍīr were expelled from Madinah, they came