Allaah says, "And indeed We gave the Children of Israel the Scripture, and the understanding of the Scripture and its laws, and the Prophethood; and provided them with good things, and preferred them above the Alamin (mankind and jinns) (of their time, during that period), And gave them clear proofs in matters [by revealing to them the Taurat (Torah)]. And they differed not until after the knowledge came to them, through envy among themselves. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection about that wherein they used to differ. (45:16-17). Then He warned us, "And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment." (03:105)
This month we would see the story of some who were as Allaah described; those who differed only after the knowledge came to them. Some couple of years before the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings be upon him) migrated to Madeenah, there was a Jew called Ibn al-Haybaan. He came to Madeenah to settle among the Jews of Bani Qurayzah. The people have never seen any man during Jahiliyah (Days of ignorance before) better than him.
Whenever the people were faced with a drought (lack of rainfall), they would say to him, "Go out, 0 Ibn al-Haybaan, and pray for rain for us." He would say, "No by Allaah, not until you give charity before we go out." They would ask him, "How much?" He would say, "A saa of dates or two mudd of barley." They would give that and then he would go out to the fields and pray for rain. They would hardly have left the place before clouds would come and rain would fall.
This happened more than once, may be twice or thrice. Then after some time, when he was about to die and he realized that, he said, "0 Jews, what do you think brought me here from a land of plenty to a land of poverty and hunger?" They said, "Allaah knows best." He said, "I only came to this land expecting and hoping to see the emergence of a Prophet whose time has come. This is the land to which he will emigrate. I had hoped that AIIaah would send him so I could follow him. His time is near so do not Iet anyone beat you to following him, nothing should prevent you (from following him).
Some of the Jewish youth benefited from the advice of Ibn al-Haybaan, namely Thalabah ibn Sayah, Usayd ibn Sayah and Asad ibn Ubayd. When the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings be upon him) besieged Bani Qurayzah, these young men said, "O Bani Qurayzah, by Allaah, he is the Prophet about whom Ibn al-Haybaan told you." They said, "No he isnt" They said, "Yes, he is, he has the attributes (of that Prophet)." Then they went out and embraced Islaam, thus saving their blood, wealth and property"(AI-Bidaayah wan Nihaayah).
Muhammad ibn Salamah said, "There was only one Jew among Bani Abd al- Ashal. His name was Yoosha. I heard him saying when I was a young boy wearing only a lower garment- "The time is approaching when a Prophet will be sent from the direction of that house," and he pointed towards the House of Allaah (the Kabah). "Whoever lives to meet him, let him believe in him." Then the Messenger of Allaah was sent and we became Muslim whilst he (that Jew) was among us, but did not become Muslim out of envy and hatred." (AI-Bidaayah wan Nihaayah) Next month insha Allaah, we will narrate the story of someone who was a Jew but he benefited from his knowledge about the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessing be upon him).
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited