# How can the same poison kill one companion at once and the Prophet three years later?

*Contradictions in the story: the companion who died at once and the three-year poison*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/gcid83kra2i/s/3/
- Date: 2018-09-17 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (6:49–10:31)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCid83kRA2I&t=409s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/gcid83kra2i/

**Topics:** Text criticism, reason and the Quran; Reports that disrespect the Prophet; The life of the Prophet

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The story contradicts itself: the companion who ate the food died at once, so the same poison cannot have killed the Prophet three years later, and the Prophet in Muslim's version says Allah would not let the woman do it.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that the poisoning story is internally contradictory, since the companion who ate the food died at once while the Prophet is said to have died from the same poison three years later.

**Evidence, his words at 9:09:** “This is already a contradiction. The fact that dies from that poison, how can that poison take three years when Bishar has already died from it?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCid83kRA2I&t=549s)

## Longer summary

Turning to the content, Mufti Abu Layth recounts the story as the reports give it: after a hard-fought battle whose name is lost in the transcript, a Jewish woman invited the Prophet and some companions to eat; while they ate, the angel told the Prophet the food was poisoned, he told everyone to stop, but the companion Bishr [?] had already eaten and died, either on the spot or, in some versions, within days. He says the reports then disagree about when the Prophet questioned the woman, who answered that if he were a prophet he would find out anyway and that if he were not she would have killed him; in Muslim's version the Prophet replies that Allah would not let her do that. He points out the contradiction: Bishr dies from the poison immediately, yet the Prophet is said to die from the same poison three years later, which he says is not how such a poison works. Answering a viewer who asks whether it could be like toxic radiation, he says it cannot, since this is poison, and that if the companion died within hours or days the Prophet could not take years to die.

## Sources and names cited

- Bishr ibn al-Bara' [?]
- the battle of Khaybar [?] (the name is garbled in the transcript)
- report: the woman who poisoned the food said if you were a prophet you would find out and the prophet said allah would not let you do that
- Sahih Muslim
- Sunan Abi Dawud

## Transcript (machine tier, 6:49–10:31)

[6:31] the person in it Muhammadbnari who says problematizes as a problematic narrator as does im Malik as does even says that although he's a a truthful person but he makes mistakes and said he's considered weak as well right now and then there's a narration in Muslim Ahmed once again it comes from Zi with so it's unacceptable right now you'll find that with most of the chains But now let's go to the content of this hadith.

[7:07] The problem with the content of this hadith people is this is the incident that after the battle of which you know was a uh I mean had just it I mean it was a very difficult kind of battle the siege uh the whole kind of bloodshed everything people are aware of that. Now after that according to this incident the prophet uh was invited by a Jewish woman to eat some food.

[7:39] So he goes along and in this hadith which is in Abu D him and the companion and other companions go to eat this food amongst them you've got amongst them. Now they sit to eat and whilst they're eating the angel tells the prophet that don't eat it. there's poison in it. So the prophet refrains and says hey stop stop people stop eating it but bish has already eaten it.

[8:09] Therefore bishar dies or in some narrations he dies there in some narrations he dies within a few days. Now when he dies then and then once again the narrations disagree. Some say when he dies then the prophet asks the old this old lady. Some say no. He asks the old lady there and then, "Why did you poison us?" And she says, "Well, because if you're a prophet, you were going to find out anyway, weren't you?" So then the prophet responds.

[8:43] She says, "Well, if you weren't a prophet, I would have killed you for what happened in if you were a prophet, well, you ought to find out anyway." And the prophet in Muslim's narration says [Music] that Allah would not let you carry out something like that. Now check this out. He will not let you poison me. This is that same hadith.

[9:09] What is it saying in Bkari? Oh, I'm finding that poison is now killing off my arteries. It's cutting off my arteries, my aorta. This is already a contradiction. The fact that dies from that poison, how can that poison take three years when Bishar has already died from it? So Bishop eats it and he's dead and the other person eats it and hey, lo and behold, 3 years later, he dies.

[9:42] That's not how that kind of poison can work. So somebody had asked, can this be equivalent to toxic radiation? No, it can't. This is not radiation. This is poison. Okay, the person who ate it, the people who ate it, Bishar allegedly, I mean this whole incident is fabricated. But according to this story, Bishar dies there and then or within a few hours or at most a few days he dies.

[10:08] That's in the narration, the Abu Dawud, that's in the other texts. So if he dies, how can other people or the prophet take years up to three years to die? That is nonsensical. The other thing is according to the same hadith in Muslim, the prophet said to the old lady, Allah would not let you get away with something like that. He would not, sorry, he would not allow empower you to do something like that.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment gCid83kRA2I/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/gcid83kra2i/s/3/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.