# Why Christian & Jewish Scholars Rejected Muhammad ﷺ Prophethood - Q&A with Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy

- Language: en
- Published: 2026-08-26
- Canonical: https://blog.towardseternity.com/en/blog/why-christian-jewish-scholars-rejected-muhammad-prophethood-qa-with-sh-mohammad-elshinawy
- Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45BsvAivHjw
- Channel: Towards Eternity

This is the cleaned transcript of the source video. The speech is unaltered.

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What did the Prophet look like? The Prophet (saw) looked unforgettable. Why did the Christian and Jewish scholars of that time not believe in him? Finding the truth is pretty easy. Wanting the truth is the hard part, right? Everyone knew from the Jews, not from somewhere else, that we are awaiting a prophet and he's going to come and he's going to come in this region and all of this. But when he came out from other than their tribe, they said, "You're not a prophet." And they even would ask him trick questions. He answers all of these questions correctly. And then in the end, they had no choice.

And they started saying, "Okay, you're a prophet, but for the Arabs." How did the Prophet Muhammad (saw) die? And what was his last words? Aisha (ra), she said, "And in his final illness we kept hearing him say, "O Allah! Join me with the highest gathering! Join me with the highest company!" So I said, "He's not choosing us." Assalamualaikum, Sheikh Mohammed Elshinawy, thank you for accepting our invitation. We are very happy to have you with us. You are the author of the book "Proof of the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (saw)" We have prepared some questions about him. So if you're ready, Inshallah, we can start. Waalaikumassalam. Absolutely. Bismillah.

What did the Prophet (saw) look like? The Prophet (saw) looked unforgettable. Anyone who saw his face was in awe of him and could not forget what he looked like (saw). They would describe him as being remarkable from afar and handsome from up close. If you see him from a distance, you say, this is something noteworthy. And you get close, you see that he had exemplary beauty, exceptional beauty. And his companions would say, "I never saw him, except that he was smiling." And they said, "I saw him once on a night when it was a full moon.

And I swear to you, he was brighter than the moon (saw)." He was of medium height, he had a strong build, without being the least bit underweight or overbearing in weight. He (saw) had a large beard. And wavy hair that would often extend shortly past his ears. And when he spoke, he spoke methodically, in slow, clear words. And when people would hear what he said, they would cling to it and not forget it. Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam. The Prophet (saw) was also inviting Jews and Christians to Islam, of course. And we know that the coming of Muhammad (pbuh) is written in their holy books as well. Why did the Christian and Jewish scholars of that time not believe in him still?

Finding the truth is pretty easy. Wanting the truth is the hard part, right? You know, they say, like, what is more humiliating? A child that's afraid of the dark or an adult that's afraid of the light? And so, everyone knew from the Jews, not from somewhere else, that we are awaiting a prophet, and he's going to come, and he's going to come in this region and all of this. But when he came out from other than their tribe, they said, "You're not a prophet." They even would ask him trick questions even, like about the soul. They would say, you know, "And ask him about the soul.

If he answers, then he's not a prophet." It was a trick question, because a true prophet that gets communication from God will know that the soul is intended by God to be a mystery until the end of time. And so, he answers all of these questions correctly. Then they ask him a trick question. And then Allah sends down Surah Al-Isra. "They ask you about the soul, say to them, 'The soul is one of the secrets of God,' And you, humanity, meaning even the prophets, have not been given knowledge of." So, they knew. This is why actually initially they said he wasn't a Prophet. And then in the end they had no choice.

Because they made all of these conditionals like, if he knows this, then he's a prophet. Only a prophet would know. So, they were cornered now. So that's why you will see in the Sirah that they had to actually pivot away from that excuse. And they started saying, "Okay, you're a prophet, but for the Arabs." They're doing like reverse engineering here because they were stuck. They were actually stuck. And so, they chose dunya over Akhirah, some of them. And some of them did accept the Prophet (saw). It's important to identify as well. There were Jews and Christians and scholars among them, like Abdullah Musallam and others who did accept him and were disowned by their tribes because of it.

When he brought Islam, almost all of his tribe rejected him. Didn't they try to assassinate him? Is there a moment when the Messenger of Allah was almost killed? Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, many moments. Some of the other tribes in Medina, like some of the Jewish tribes, attempted to assassinate him. Among others, there was Zaynab bint al-Harith, who attempted to poison the Prophet (saw) at the end of his life. And Allah protected him from the poison that he had consumed. The other person that ate died, and he was affected by it in the sense that Allah chose to raise his rank through the difficulties, through the adversities, but he did not pass away from it.

He passed away about a year later and he was still, Subhanallah, feeling the pain. It is interesting because al-Imam Al-baqillani, one of the great scholars, and one of the things he says on this, "When they were failed by their words, they resorted to their swords." Like, think about it. How do we know the Qur'an is a miracle? Well, why would you fight a man and his followers? Some of them are your tribesmen. Some of them are your nuclear household, your direct relatives. Why would you fight someone? You would just take the path of least resistance. If you could imitate the Qur'an, get together, all of you. If one of you can't do it, all of you combined surely can do it.

Why would you resort to war if you could have just sort of killed the idea, or imitated or met the challenge and sort of disproven the Qur'an? And so it's actually one of the proofs that the Qur'an was so impactful, so matchless, such a masterpiece, that they felt no choice. We cannot win except by getting rid of the Messenger and even that they were not able to do. Can you tell us one miracle that he showed to prove his Prophethood? You know, when you have a whole crowd of people that are attending a sermon, and all of them narrating that a particular man walks in and says, "Ya Rasolallah, O Messenger of God, the animals are dying and the crops are failing.

Ask Allah to grant us some rain!" And they say the Prophet (saw) lifts his hands to the skies, and the skies are like glass, you know. And they say, clear skies like glass, meaning not a single cloud in sight. And he doesn't put his hands down, except the clouds had gathered on top of them. They're not hearing this from someone. They're all firsthand eyewitnesses. And he does not step down off of his altar, the pulpit, except with the water dripping from his beard and soaking all of us. And then the following week, the man comes back, because he knows this is the gathering day when Muslims get together. He says, "Ya Muhammad, please, I'm begging you, ask Allah to stop with the rain.

It's been raining for seven days straight and the valleys are flooding. The animals are about to die the other way now, drowning," he says. And he (saw) lifts his hands to the sky. And he calls upon his Lord in humility and the clouds separate to a crown-like formation around Medina. And this was not the only time the water supply was increased. And that is just one subset of one of his (saw) physical miracles. I once heard a saying, the Prophets are the ones who suffer the most in this world. We hear that the Prophet (saw) also suffered great calamities. Which period do you think was the heaviest one for him? Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam.

Well, actually our mother, Aisha (ra), the wife of the Prophet (saw), she asked him this question. She said to him, "Did you ever see a day more difficult than the day of Uhud?" The day of the Battle of Uhud, in the third year after his migration. You know, so many of the great Muslims were killed. He (saw) fell unconscious and his face was gashed and his tooth was broken. And he suffered so many injuries. And so, the Prophet (saw) acknowledged. And he said, "I have certainly seen so much harm." He says, "But I never saw a day more difficult than the day of Ta'if." The day Ta'if, when he went, when Mecca had driven him out right before he migrated.

He tried, like, a final option was to go to the city of Ta'if. And he approached their tribe, the tribe of Thaqif, and he presented Islam to them. And they not just shut the door in his face, they drove him out of the city and they forced him down a very particular street, if you will. And they pelted stones and hurled insults, until his (saw) legs were bleeding. And the head of his adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah (ra) was gashed. Imagine seeing your son gashed right in front of you, and the two of you still have to keep running.

And he said, "I was so overwhelmed with grief, I don't even know where I went until finally I heard a sound above me and I looked up." And Allah had sent him Jibreel (as), along with the angel of the mountains, asking him, "Would you like to have revenge?" And even in that day, that ocean of cruelty, could not drown his (saw) mercy. What was the happiest day of the Prophet (saw)? The day he met Allah (swt) would have to be the happiest day of his life.

Aisha (ra), she said that "The Prophet (saw) used to say to us that the prophets are given the choice to remain in this world, meaning a bit longer, or to meet Allah (swt)." She said, "And in his final illness, we kept hearing him say, "O Allah, join me with the highest gathering. Join me with the highest company." So I said, "He's not choosing us." Who did Prophet Muhammad (saw) love the most? He loved Allah (swt) the most. No doubt. However, among humanity, he said, "If I were going to take anyone as a Khalil, as my closest and most intimate beloved, it would have been Abu Bakr." And then, of course, among his family members, and his love for Khadija (ra), his wife was unparalleled.

And then after she passed, his love for Aisha (ra) was unparalleled. In fact, the hadith of Aisha just briefly mentioned this. One of his companions thought he was the most beloved person to the Prophet. And that's important, that everyone felt like they were the most beloved. He asked him just to double confirm who's the most beloved. He wanted to hear it and perhaps wanted other people to hear it. The Prophet (saw) said, "Aisha." And this guy would say, "Perhaps that question customarily is referring to like your wives or, you know, the romantic love." And so he said, "Aisha." So he said, "No, no, no, I don't mean that.

I mean us, like, us guys." He said "Her father." He was the most beloved. What advice do you think he would give to the Muslim world? Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam. I mean, he actually did not leave any question that we need answered unanswered. The hadith of Thawban (ra). He said that the Prophet (saw) said that, "Soon the nations of the world will gather upon you to devour you. The same way diners invite one another to a dish." And they said to him, "Ya Rasolullah! Is it because we'll be so few in number?" And he said, "Actually, no, you will be so plenty on that day." Let's say, for example, 2 billion. "You will be so plenty on that day. But you'll be weightless. You will not have influence.

You will be like the foam of the ocean." And he says, "and Allah will pull out from the hearts of your enemies, any regard, any intimidation, any fear of you. And He will cast weakness into your hearts." And they said, "Ya Rasolullah! Why? Like, where's this weakness coming from?" He said, "It will be coming from your excessive fixation on this world, and your hatred of death, you hating death too much." It's natural, of course, to hate death. But when you're too obsessive over this world, you will lose even this world. And this is precisely what he (saw) said would happen. And everything else he said will also happen about the revival of this Ummah time and time again.

It's an Ummah that does not die. And in other hadith, he said that, "If you start taking part in interest based transactions, riba, and you start settling for your agriculture..." Like, you just want to settle down. My farm, my savings, right? "Allah will unleash humiliation upon you, and He will not remove it from you, until you return to your deen." People think that being religious means being broke as well. No, we need to master this world while prioritizing the Hereafter. One of the early Muslims was asked what went wrong in the Ummah, when the Ummah started losing some of its momentum. He said, we had the dunya in our hands. You see, it's not like some...

We're not living in an alternative reality, we're not disengaged. We had the dunya in our hand, but we kept it from our heart. But then when it got into our heart, because this is hard to keep it here and not there, it's a hard balance. And that's where Ibadah comes in. This is where our relationship with Allah is paramount, He said, "But when it got into our heart, Allah pulled it from our hand." You see, we are not like other nations. Other nations may have this world while defying Allah, but because Allah loves this Ummah, the Ummah of Muhammad (saw), the consequence comes a little faster so that we can change course.

So that, if we miss out on this world, at the very least, not at the very least, most importantly, at least not the next world. Because that is the more valuable of the two, the better and more lasting. This is what he would say. And he told us at the end of time things will cycle back to virtue. And he said there would be leadership upon the prophetic way. So returning to the Qur'anic way and returning to the prophetic way is what he lived his life and spent his last days telling the world about. How did the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) die and what was his last words? He died in his home between the chest and throat of his wife Aisha (ra).

And he was resting on the chest of his beloved, with his gaze at the skies, saying, "O Allah, grant me the highest company." And shortly before that which were his final words, he was emphasizing to the people and cautioning to the people, "The prayer. The prayer." If that falls, everything else falls. It's the first pillar within Islam, right? He said "The prayer, the prayer, and fear Allah regarding those under your authority." Fear Allah regarding those you're responsible for. So, the rights of the Creator and the rights of all those you have influence over among His creation.

If you were given one minute in a Super Bowl commercial to tell millions of people about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), what would you tell them? So this is an unfair question, because they use like six months to prepare for these 60 seconds that cost them $15 million, right? A good friend of mine, actually, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Shukri, he wrote a poem that I think may be useful here, that I think I've committed to memory. Allow me to share this poem with you, if you would. So, Sheikh Ahmad, he said, "You never saw your father's face and hardly knew the warmth of your mother's embrace. Your grandfather's heart would then burn with concern, yet death would even come to him in turn.

No one to look up to, so you cast your vision to the sky. When you live to speak the truth, it cuts deep when they say you lie. And yet you move on, you take it all in stride. The honest Prophet who by his own people is belied. With only two pillars of support, an uncle and a perfect wife, Yet in the same year both of them would lose their life. Jibreel sends your wife Khadija his salams, and promises her a house in Paradise. But then another angel, the angel of death, came to your house to collect its price. You went to Ta'if seeking support for the mission you needed to spread. They laughed at you and they sent their kids to stone you until you bled.

At Uhud, they struck you with vicious blows, and rumors were spread about your beloved Aisha that caused pain that Allah only knows. The absence of your close cousin Jafar would finally end. And from Abyssinia he would come. Yet in the same day he would be martyred along with Zayd, your adopted son. And Ruqayyah would pass away and Umm Kulthum as well. And you held Ibrahim in your arms with a heart that breaks and eyes that swell. Death would seek permission to take your soul, but not the soul of those you love. But you never once expressed distress from the tests that came from up above. The trials made you stronger. And for Allah's perfect company you would yearn for.

It is to Allah that we belong, and to him is our return. Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam." And so, this resilience is beyond words. And the baraqah of the Prophet's (saw) faith continues to extend 1400 years plus into the faith of those we see around us. He is the ideal believer. And the belief of the people of Gaza continues to bring people to Islam, to true faith, to true belief in God. More so than our decades of da'wah have been able to do. Jazakallah khair, Sheikh, for answers. May Allah reward you. May Allah accept all you guys and all you do. And hopefully gives us some benefit in Jannah. Inshallah.