This excerpt is taken from the book of Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Hadith 27: The Children of Israel are Rats
It is narrated from Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم said:
"A group of the Children of Israel got lost, it is not known what happened to them. I think those people are mice. When camel's milk is placed before them, they do not drink it, but when goat's milk is placed before them, they drink it."
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Beginning of Creation, Chapter: The Best Property of a Muslim, Hadith: 3305, and Sahih Muslim, Zuhd, Chapter on the Mouse, Hadith: 2997
The deniers of Hadith say: How is it possible that the present mice are the transformed group of the Children of Israel and their lineage remains in the form of mice, whereas a narration from Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه states that a transformed nation does not live more than three days.
There are two reasoned answers to this. The word لا أراها used in the Hadith indicates that this was the thought of the Prophet Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم and at that time the revelation had not come to you that the transformed nation does not remain alive for more than three days. And when the revelation came that the transformed nation does not remain alive for more than three days, as narrated from Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما in a Marfu’ Hadith, and it is narrated in Musnad Ahmad and Sahih Muslim from Ibn Mas’ud رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم said:
إن الله لم يمسخ شيئا فيدع له نسلا أو عاقبة
"Indeed, Allah does not keep the offspring of that which He transforms."
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Al-Qadar, Chapter on the Explanation of Lifespans, Hadith: 2663; and Musnad Ahmad: 1/390, and the wording is his
So it became clear that your thought was not correct and what you first stated was based on your own opinion. The evidence for this is that you used the words of opinion, and furthermore, you reasoned that mice do not drink camel's milk (because camel's milk was also forbidden for the Children of Israel). If it had been revelation, you would not have used this reasoning. Later, when the revelation came, you clarified it.
This Hadith is to be understood as a metaphor, meaning the Prophet Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم meant that the example of the Children of Israel is like mice in that they dislike camel's milk and drink goat's milk. The example of mice was given only for those people among the Children of Israel who were transformed as a punishment for some sin, as mentioned in Sahih Muslim.
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Zuhd and Softening of Hearts, Chapter on the Mouse and that it is a Transformation, Hadith: 2997
That such a nation was transformed.
