Umar bin Khattab came to the Prophet ﷺ with a book he had obtained from some of the People of the Book and read it to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ became angry and said, "Are you in doubt about it, son of Khattab? By the One in whose hand my soul is, I have brought it to you white and pure. Do not ask them about anything, for they may tell you something true and you will reject it, or something false and you will believe it. By the One in whose hand my soul is, if Musa were alive, he would have no choice but to follow me."
أن عمر بن الخطاب، أتى النبي ﷺ بكتاب أصابه من بعض أهل الكتب، فقرأه على النبي ﷺ فغضب وقال: أمتهو يكون فيها يا ابن الخطاب، والذي نفسي بيده لقد جئتكم بها بيضاء نقية، لا تسألوهم عن شيء فيخبروكم بحق فتكذبوا به، أو بباطل فتصدقوا به، والذي نفسي بيده لو أن موسى كان حيا، ما وسعه إلا أن يتبعني.
Hasan. Narrated by Imam Ahmad (15156), Ibn Abu Shayba (26949), and Bazzar in Kashf Astar (124), all of them through various routes from Hushaym bin Bashir, who said, Mujalid told us, from Shaybi, from Jabir bin Abdullah, and he related it. The wording given here is Ahmad's.Ahmad (14631) and Abu Yaala (2135) also narrated it, both through Hammad bin Zayd, from Mujalid, but only the part attributed to the Prophet.Its chain is hasan because of Mujalid bin Saeed, for even though he is somewhat weak in transmission, Ibn Mahdi said, "The narration of Mujalid as reported by the younger narrators and by Abu Usama is worthless, but the narration reported by Shuba, Hammad bin Zayd, and Hushaym, these being the earlier ones, is sound," meaning that his memory changed in his later years, but these narrators transmitted from him before that change.Ibn Adi said, "He has sound hadiths from Shaybi, from Jabir."I say, this hadith is among those narrated by Hushaym and Hammad bin Zayd, from Mujalid, and Mujalid narrated it from Shaybi, from Jabir, so it appears to be sound.Something with a similar meaning was reported from Abu Darda, who said, Umar came with comprehensive extracts from the Torah and said, "Messenger of Allah, I got these from a brother of mine from Banu Zurayq." The face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ changed, so Abdullah bin Zayd, the one who was shown the call to prayer in a vision, said, "Has Allah confounded your mind? Don't you see what is on the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?" Umar said, "We are content with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, with Muhammad as prophet, and with the Quran as guide." Then the anger left the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, "By the One in whose hand is my soul, if Musa were among you, nothing would suffice him but to follow me. And moreover, if he were among you and you followed him, you would go far astray. You are my portion among the nations, and I am your portion among the prophets."Tabarani narrated it in Al-Kabir, as found in Jami al-Masanid wal-Sunan (11171), from Muhammad bin Uthman bin Abu Shayba, who said, Minjab bin Harith told us, Abu Amir Aqadi told us, from Sufyan (that is, Thawri), from Abu Ishaq, from Abu Hubayya, from Abu Darda, and he related it.Haythami said in Majma al-Zawaid (2/174), "Tabarani narrated it in Al-Kabir, and it includes Abu Amir Qasim bin Muhammad Asadi, whom I have not seen anyone give a biography for, and the rest of its narrators are established as reliable."I say, Ibn Abu Hatim gave a biography for him in Jarh wat-Tadil (7/119), and it includes Abu Habiba, who is Tai, no one is known to have transmitted from him other than Abu Ishaq, and I have not found anyone who deemed him reliable except that Ibn Hibban mentioned him among his reliable narrators. Hence Hafiz said, "Acceptable," meaning when supported by another narrator, and I have not found any supporting narrator for him.In the printed edition of Majma al-Zawaid it appears as "Abu Amir Qasim bin Muhammad Asadi," but in the printed edition of Jami al-Masanid it appears as "Abu Amir Aqadi." If the matter is as it appears in Jami al-Masanid, then among those who narrated from Thawri is Abu Amir Aqadi, whose name is Abdul-Malik bin Amr Basri, and he is reliable. And Allah knows best.There are other hadiths on this subject whose chains have been criticized.It is established from Ibn Abbas in Sahih [Bukhari] that he said, "How can you ask the People of the Book about anything, when your Book, which was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is the most recent, and you read it pure and unadulterated, and it has told you that the People of the Book altered the Book of Allah and changed it, and wrote the book with their own hands and said it was from Allah, in order to gain some small price by it? Does not the knowledge that has come to you restrain you from asking them? No, by Allah, we have never seen a single man among them asking you about what was revealed to you."Bukhari narrated it in Al-Itisam (7363), from Musa bin Ismail, who said, Ibrahim told us, Ibn Shihab informed us, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, that Ibn Abbas said, and he related it.It is also established from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman in Sahih [Bukhari] that he heard Muawiya speaking to a group of Quraysh in Madinah, and he mentioned Kaab Ahbar and said, "He was among the most truthful of these narrators who report from the People of the Book, yet even so we used to catch him in falsehood."Bukhari narrated it in Al-Itisam (7361), where he said, Abu Yaman said, Shuayb informed us, from Zuhri, who said, Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman informed me, and he related it.This prohibition should be understood as applying to seeking guidance from the books of the People of the Book and other religious communities. As for examining them critically in order to expose their corruption, this is permissible, and may even be obligatory for those firmly grounded scholars who undertake to expose the falsification of these communities and religions. This has been the practice of the early generations from the first century up to our own day, as I have explained in my book Studies in Judaism, Christianity, and the Religions of India.