The Jewish Quiz: Surah Yusuf and Surah Al-Kahf Revealed

Quraysh were in a predicament. They wanted to expose the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as a fraud, but they had no intellectual framework for what a prophet even was. The Arabs had not had a prophet in living memory. As Allah says: لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّا أَتَاهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ, "That you may warn a people to whom no warner came before you." (Yāsīn 36:6). The only civilization they knew that understood prophethood were the Jews and Christians, the People of the Book.

So they sent delegations to Yathrib (later Madīnah), the nearest Jewish community, and asked for help: "A man among us is claiming to be a prophet. We know this is from your religion, not ours, so give us some quiz questions that only a true prophet could answer, and we'll expose him."

❧The first test: the family of Yaqub

In one such delegation, the Jews said: "Ask him about Yaqub (Jacob) and his children, what happened to the family of Yaqub? What happened to Yusuf?" The story of Yusuf was known among the People of the Book; it was documented in their scripture. But the Arabs had no idea who Yusuf was. If Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وسلم couldn't answer, he would be exposed.

They went to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and asked. And Allah revealed all of Sūrat Yūsuf, one hundred and eleven verses, the most detailed single narrative in the Quran, as the answer. Allah said at the end of it: وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ أَجْمَعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ, "You were not there when they plotted against Yusuf." The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم revealed details that even some of the Jews who had given the quiz question did not know.

❧The second test: three questions, only a true prophet can answer

In a second delegation, the Jews gave Quraysh three questions they said no one could answer except "a prophet from among the prophets of Israel":

"One: Ask him about the young men who entered a cave and slept there for a long time, what was their story?

Two: Ask him about a man who traveled the world from East to West and had extraordinary experiences, who was he?

Three: Ask him about the Rūḥ, the Spirit. What is it?"

When Quraysh came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم with these three questions, he said with confidence: "Come back to me tomorrow, I will tell you the answers."

He did not say inshāʾAllāh.

The day came. No revelation. A second day. Still nothing. Quraysh began mocking: "Did we not tell you? His spirit has abandoned him." Two weeks passed in this silence. Every day the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم waited, and every day the humiliation of those who were waiting to mock grew heavier. And then Allah revealed Sūrat al-Kahf, and along with it, He revealed the principle that would never be forgotten: وَلَا تَقُولَنَّ لِشَيْءٍ إِنِّي فَاعِلٌ ذَٰلِكَ غَدًا إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ, "Never say about anything 'I will do that tomorrow', except: 'If Allah wills.'" (al-Kahf 18:23–24). This was a correction from Allah to His most beloved servant, showing that even the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is a servant, not the Master. The Rabb is Allah; the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is the ʿAbd.

❧The first question: Aṣḥāb al-Kahf

Sūrat al-Kahf opens with the answer. Allah revealed the full story of the young men who hid in a cave and whom Allah caused to sleep for an extended period, إِذْ أَوَى الْفِتْيَةُ إِلَى الْكَهْفِ, preserving them from persecution and bringing them out centuries later. Details were given that exceeded even what was in the Jewish sources. Not just the event, but the lesson, the Quran told Quraysh: these young men are exactly like the early Muslims. They were persecuted for their faith. They fled. And Allah protected them.

❧The second question: Dhūl-Qarnayn

Allah revealed: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَن ذِي الْقَرْنَيْنِ, "They ask you about Dhūl-Qarnayn." (al-Kahf 18:83). He was a righteous king who traveled the world, West and East, reaching the setting of the sun, then the rising, and finally the land of the two mountains where he built a barrier to contain Yāʾjūj and Māʾjūj (Gog and Magog). His identity remains unknown from any external source, which itself is a point of note.

A common view equates Dhūl-Qarnayn with Alexander the Great. This is incorrect. Alexander the Great was a well-documented pagan idol-worshipper, tutored by Aristotle who believed in the Greek pantheon. The Dhūl-Qarnayn of the Quran builds the barrier saying: هَٰذَا رَحْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّي, "This is from the mercy of my Lord." (al-Kahf 18:98). The two figures are incompatible.

❧The third question: the Rūḥ

And then came the most elegant answer of all. The question was a trap. The Jews knew this: they gave it because they understood that no one, not even a prophet, has been given knowledge of the human spirit. If the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave an elaborate answer about the nature of the soul, he would have failed by their own standard. If he refused to answer at all, he would seem ignorant.

Allah revealed: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا, "They ask you about the Spirit. Say: The Spirit is from the affair of my Lord, and you have not been given of knowledge except a little." (al-Isrāʾ 17:85).

The trap was sprung on its owners. The Jews knew: "Correct. No one knows this." By answering exactly as a true prophet should, acknowledging the mystery Allah has kept to Himself, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم demonstrated that he was from within the prophetic tradition they themselves defined.