Muḥammad ibn Kathīr narrated to us; Isrāʾīl narrated to us; from ʿUthmān ibn al-Mughīrah—while another transmitter said, “Ibn Abī al-Mughīrah”—from Sālim, who is Ibn Abī al-Jaʿd; from Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him):

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Is there no man who will take me to his people? Quraysh have barred me from conveying the speech of my Lord.”

Abū ʿAbd Allah commented: “In this the Prophet ﷺ made it plain that the task of conveying belongs to him, whereas the speech itself belongs to his Lord. Nothing contrary to what we have stated has been reported from any of the Emigrants, the Helpers, or those who followed them in excellence. They are the ones who, generation after generation, transmitted the Book and the Sunnah after the Prophet ﷺ.

Allah the Exalted says, ‘So that you may be witnesses over mankind and the Messenger may be a witness over you’ (al-Baqarah 2:143).

The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘You are Allah’s witnesses upon the earth.’”}