Those who disliked looking into the books of the People of the Book

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with a page from a book of the People of the Book and said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I have obtained a very fine book from some of the People of the Book." The narrator said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) became angry and said: "O Ibn al-Khattab, are you still bewildered about this? By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I have brought you a clear and radiant religion. Do not ask the People of the Book about anything, for they may tell you the truth and you deny it, or they may tell you something false and you believe it. By the One in whose Hand is my soul, if even Musa (peace be upon him) were alive today, he would have no option but to follow me."

Ata bin Yasar said: The Jews used to come to the Muslims and tell them things from their books, which the Muslims liked. So the Companions mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Neither believe them nor deny them. Say: We believe in Allah and in what He has revealed to us, to the end of the verse [al-Ma'idah: 59]."

Ikrimah said that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "You ask the People of the Book about their books, while you yourselves have the Book of Allah, the most recent of all books from Allah, and you recite it pure and unadulterated."

Abd al-Rahman bin Yazid said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Do not ask the People of the Book about anything, for you may deny something true or believe something false. They will never guide you, when they have put themselves on the wrong path. There is not one of them but has in his heart a desire calling him to his religion, like the desire for wealth."