The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "A group from among the children of Israil disappeared, and no one knows what became of them. I think they are none other than mice. Do you not see that when camel's milk is set before a mouse, it will not drink it, but when sheep's milk is set before it, it drinks?"Abu Hurairah said, "I related this hadith to Kaab."Kaab asked, "Did you yourself hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?"I replied, "Yes."He repeated the question several times.I said, "Do I read the Torah?"
قال رسول الله ﷺ: فقدت أمة من بني إسرائيل، لا يدري ما فعلت، ولا أراها إلا الفأر، ألا ترونها إذا وضع لها ألبان الإبل لم تشربه وإذا وضع لها ألبان الشاء شربته؟ قال أبو هريرة: فحدثت هذا الحديث كعبا. فقال: أنت سمعته من رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم؟ قلت: نعم. قال ذلك مرارا. قلت: أأقرأ التوراة؟
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Asceticism and Softening of Hearts (2997: 61) through various routes from Khalid, from Muhammad bin Sirin, from Abu Hurairah, who related it.Nawawi said, "Do you not see that when camels' milk is placed for it..." The meaning of this is that the meat and milk of camels were forbidden to Banu Israil, unlike the meat and milk of sheep. So the fact that the mouse refrained from camel's milk but not from sheep's milk indicates that it is a transformed creature from Banu Israil.As for his statement, "Should I recite the Torah?" it uses the interrogative hamza, and it is a rhetorical question of denial. Its meaning is, I do not know, and I have nothing except from the Prophet ﷺ, and I do not transmit anything from the Torah or any other of the earlier scriptures, unlike Kaab Ahbar and others who had knowledge of the scriptures of the People of the Book.