Saying · c. 615 CE (Meccan period)
Come back to me tomorrow, and I will tell you the answers to these three questions.
Said without adding insha'Allah, which delayed the revelation two weeks while the Quraysh mocked him.
~c. 615 CE (Meccan period) · 7 BH
Strength of the report
The report of the delegation and its three questions is narrated in Tirmidhi with a slightly weak chain.
The Quraysh sent another delegation to the Jews of Yathrib (later Madinah), asking for questions that would test the Prophet ﷺ. The Jews suggested three things that only a true prophet would know. The first was the story of some young men who slept for a long time in a cave. The second was the story of a great traveler who journeyed from the east to the west. The third was the nature of the ruh (the spirit or soul), which was meant as a trick question.
The Prophet ﷺ told them to come back the next day for the answers, but he did not say "insha'Allah" (if Allah wills). Instead of one day, the revelation was delayed for two weeks, and all the while the Quraysh mocked him. Then Allah revealed Surah al-Kahf. It answered the first two questions with the story of the Companions of the Cave and the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn. About the ruh, Allah revealed in another verse (Qur'an 17:85) that it belongs to His command and that people have been given only a little knowledge.
The episode taught that revelation comes only at Allah's will, never the Prophet ﷺ's own, and the trick question about the ruh was answered correctly precisely by declining to answer it.
Other events recorded in 7 BH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Come back to me tomorrow, and I will tell you the answers to these three questions.
Said without adding insha'Allah, which delayed the revelation two weeks while the Quraysh mocked him.
Ep.014: Surah al-Kahf (incl. the youths of the cave, 18:13) was revealed in response to the trick questions the Quraysh (via Nadr/Uqba) obtained from the Jews of Yathrib to test the Prophet ﷺ.
“They ask you about the spirit. Say, "The spirit is from the affairs of my Lord, and you have not been given of knowledge except a little."”
This is the Qur'an's answer to the ruh (spirit) question described at this event -- one of the three trick questions relayed via the Jews of Yathrib.
“Say, [O Prophet,] "I am only a man like you"”
This is the closing ayah of Surah al-Kahf, the very surah revealed answering the sleepers-of-the-cave question described at this event.