His saying: "Then they say, 'This is from Allah'"

[The First Aspect]

804 - Muhammad ibn 'Uzayr al-Ayli narrated to us, Salamah narrated to us from 'Uqayl from Ibn Shihab, 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah informed me from Ibn 'Abbas that he said: "O assembly of Muslims, how can you ask the People of the Book about anything, when your Book, which Allah revealed to His Prophet—may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—is the most recent news of Allah, which you know to be fresh and unadulterated, and Allah has informed you that the People of the Book have altered the Book of Allah and changed it, and they wrote the Book with their own hands and said, 'It is from Allah,' in order to purchase a small price with it?

Does the knowledge that has come to you not forbid you from asking them? No, by Allah, we have never seen anyone among them ask you about what was revealed to you."

805 - Ahmad ibn 'Amr ibn Abi 'Asim al-Nabil narrated to us, my father 'Amr ibn al-Dahhak narrated to me, Abu al-Dahhak ibn Makhlad narrated to me, Shabib ibn Bishr informed us from 'Ikrimah from Ibn 'Abbas regarding: "Those who write the Book with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah,' in order to purchase a small price with it," [saying:] They are the scholars (ahbar) of the Jews. They found the description of the Prophet—may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—Muhammad, written in the Torah: that he is kohl-eyed, [having] large eyes, of moderate stature, curly-haired, and handsome of face. When they found him in the Torah, they erased it out of envy and aggression. Then a party from Quraysh from the people of Makkah came to them and said: "Do you find in the Torah an unlettered prophet?" They said: "Yes, we find him to be tall, blue-eyed, with straight hair." So Quraysh denied this and said: "This is not one of us."

[The Second Aspect]

806 - Abu Zur'ah narrated to us, 'Amr ibn Hammad narrated to us, Asbat narrated to us from al-Suddi: regarding "Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah,'" he said: Some people among the Jews used to write a book from themselves and sell it to the Arabs, and tell them that it was from Allah, so they would take a small price.

807 - Abu Sa'id al-Ashajj and 'Amr ibn 'Abd Allah al-Awdi both narrated to us: Waki' narrated to us, Sufyan narrated to us from al-A'mash from Ibrahim, that he disliked the copying of the Masahif (codices of the Qur'an) for payment, and he recited this verse: "Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands."

His saying: "in order to purchase a small price with it"

808 - al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Rabi' narrated to us, 'Abd al-Razzaq informed us, Ma'mar informed us from Qatadah regarding: