The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "A group from the Children of Israil disappeared, and no one knows what became of them. I think they are none other than mice. Don't you see that when camel's milk is placed before a mouse, it does not drink it, but when sheep's milk is placed before it, it drinks it?"Abu Hurairah said, "I related this hadith to Kaab, and he asked me, 'Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ yourself?'I said, 'Yes.'He repeated the question several times, so I said, 'Do I read the Torah?'"
قال رسول الله ﷺ: فقدت أمة من بني إسرائيل، لا يدرى 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 ﷺ؟ قلت: نعم، قال ذلك مرارا، قلت: أأقرأ التوراة؟
Bukhari narrated it in the Beginning of Creation (3305), and Muslim in Asceticism and Softening of Hearts (2997: 61), through various routes from Khalid, from Muhammad bin Sirin, from Abu Hurairah, who related it as mentioned.Regarding his saying, "Do you not see that when camel's milk is offered to it," Nawawi said, its meaning is that the meat and milk of camels were forbidden to Banu Israil, unlike the meat and milk of sheep. So the mouse's refusal of camel's milk while accepting sheep's milk indicates that it was a transformed creature from Banu Israil.As for his saying, "Should I recite the Torah?" with the interrogative alif, this is a rhetorical question of denial, meaning I do not know, nor do I possess anything except what comes from the Prophet ﷺ, and I do not transmit anything from the Torah or other books of the ancients, unlike Kaab Ahbar and others who had knowledge of the People of the Book's learning. End of Nawawi's statement.