Musnad Ahmad

Abu Yahya (may Allah have mercy on him) says that once Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: I know of a verse of the Noble Qur’an about which no one has asked me until today. Now I do not know whether people already have knowledge about it and that is why they do not ask, or their minds are simply not drawn towards it? After saying this, he began conversing with us again. When he stood up from his seat, we began to reproach one another, saying, why did we not ask him ourselves? I said that when he comes here tomorrow, I will ask him about it. So, the next day, when Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) arrived, I submitted: O respected one! Yesterday you mentioned that you know of a verse of the Noble Qur’an about which no one has asked you until today, and you said you do not know whether people already have knowledge about it and that is why they do not ask, or their minds are not drawn towards it? Please tell me about this verse, and also about those verses which you had recited before this? Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once said to the Quraysh: “O group of Quraysh! There is no good in any of those things that are worshipped besides Allah.” The people of Quraysh knew that the Christians worshipped Prophet Isa (peace be upon him) and what opinion they held about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so they said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! Do you not think that Prophet Isa (peace be upon him) was Allah’s Prophet and His righteous servant? If you are truthful (that there is no good in false deities), then the God of the Christians would also be as you say (that there is no good in them either). Upon this, Allah revealed this verse: «وَلَمَّا ضُرِبَ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ مَثَلًا إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ» [الزخرف : 57] “When the example of Isa (peace be upon him) is presented, your people raise a clamor.” The narrator says that I asked him the meaning of «يَصِدُّونَ», so he translated it as “to raise a clamor,” and when I asked about the meaning of «﴿وَإِنَّهُ لَعِلْمٌ لِلسَّاعَةِ﴾ [الزخرف : 61]» “And indeed, he is surely a sign of the Hour,” he said that the descent and emergence of Isa (peace be upon him) before the Day of Judgment is among the signs of the Hour.