691 — “The Jews are an envious people, and they do not envy us for anything as much as they envy us for the greeting of peace and for saying Amin.”

Ibn Khuzaymah recorded it in his Sahih (1/73/2): Abu Bishr al-Wasiti narrated to us; Khalid—that is, Ibn Abd Allah—reported to us from Suhayl, who was Ibn Abi Salih, from his father, from Aishah, who said:

“A Jew entered upon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, ‘Death be upon you, Muhammad.’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, ‘And upon you.’ Aishah said: ‘I was about to speak, but I realized that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disliked that, so I remained silent. Then another entered and said, “Death be upon you.” He replied, “Upon you.” I was about to speak, but I realized that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disliked that. Then a third entered and said, “Death be upon you.” I could no longer restrain myself, so I said: “Upon you be death, Allah’s wrath, and His curse, O brothers of apes and swine! Do you greet the Messenger of Allah with a greeting Allah has not given him?” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Allah does not love obscenity or obscene speech. They said something, and we replied to them. The Jews …”’”

Abu Nu'aym also recorded it.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators accepted in the Sahih collections. Abu Bishr al-Wasiti was named Ishaq ibn Shahin, and he was one of al-Bukhari’s shaykhs.

Ibn Majah (1/281) also recorded the hadith by way of Hammad ibn Salamah, who narrated to us from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih, through this chain, restricting it to the passage cited above, with similar wording. Al-Busiri said in al-Zawa'id: “This is an authentic chain of transmission. Muslim relied upon every one of its narrators.”

The hadith has another route, narrated by Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman from Amr ibn Qays from Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath from Aishah, who said: “While I was with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, a Jewish man asked permission to enter …” The hadith in full is similar in wording, and more complete, except that it does not mention their envy concerning the greeting of peace. Its wording is: “They do not envy us for anything as much as they envy us for Friday, to which Allah guided us while they went astray from it; for the direction of prayer, to which Allah guided us while they went astray from it; and for our saying Amin behind the imam.”