IMAM ABU AL-FIDX' ISMA'IL IBN KATHTR 5 5My comment is that Abii Bakr al-Shafi'i related, with an excellent chain of
authorities, from Ibn 'Abbs, God bless them both, that Yazid b. Rnk- wrestled
the Messenger of God (SAAS) who threw him three times, each time for a
wager of 100 sheep. The third time Rukana said, "Muhammad, no one has ever
put my back on the ground before you, and no one was more hateful in my sight
before this than you! I testify that there is no god but God, and that you are the
Messenger of God." At that the Messenger of God (SAAS) stood up from him
and gave him back his sheep.
As for the story of his calling out to the tree and its going to him, many
accounts of that, from several excellent sources, will appear in the chapter on
"Proofs of Prophethood" after this biography, if God wills it, and in Him is our
trust.
Earlier on, it was reported from Abii al-Ashdin that he (Rnkzna) wrestled the
Prophet (SAAS) who threw him.
After this Ibn Ishaq related the story of the arrival in Mecca of the Christians
from Abyssinia, some 20 riders in number. They all embraced Islam. We gave
this earlier, after the story of the Negus. And to God be all praise arid credit.Ibn Ishaq stated, "The Messenger of God (SAAS) used to have some of his
most vulnerable Companions sit close by him in the mosque, such Muslims as
Khabbab, 'Ammar, Abn Fukayha Yasar, the freed-man of Safwan h. Umayya
and Suhayb. Quraysh would ridicule these people, telling one another, 'Thkse
are his companions, as you see, but has God really chosen them from among us
to receive guidance and the true religion? If what Muhammad brought were any
good, they would not have joined hi first; God would certainly not have put
them before us."'
And so God, Almighty and Glorious is He, revealed, "Do not drive away
those who pray to their Lord morning and night seeking His face. Yon are not
accountable for them in the least, nor are they for you. If you repulse them you
will be acting unjustly. Thus have we put some to the test through others, so
that they would say, 'Are they those of us whom God has favoured?' 'Does
God not know best who gives thanks?' And when those who believe in our
revelation come to you then say, 'Peace be upon you; your Lord has prescribed
for Himself mercy so that if one of you does wrong in ignorance, then later
repents and reforms - He is indeed merciful, forgiving'" @rat al-An'am; VI,
v.52-4).
He went on: "The Messenger of God (SAAS) used often to sit at al-Marwa
near the shop of a young Christian named Jabr, a slave of the Banii al-Hadrami.
People would say, 'By God, it is merely Jabr who teaches Muhammad most of
what he says!'
"And so God Almighty revealed about their saying that, 'It is merely some
mortal who teaches him. The language of him to whom they allude is foreign; yet
this language is plain AraK~c'" (szwat al-Nahl; XVI, v.105).