Arabic (Original)
حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ حَدَّثَنَا الْأَعْمَشُ عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ كُنْتُ أَمْشِي مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي حَرْثٍ بِالْمَدِينَةِ وَهُوَ مُتَّكِئٌ عَلَى عَسِيبٍ قَالَ فَمَرَّ بِقَوْمٍ مِنْ الْيَهُودِ فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ سَلُوهُ عَنْ الرُّوحِ قَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ لَا تَسْأَلُوهُ فَسَأَلُوهُ عَنْ الرُّوحِ فَقَالُوا يَا مُحَمَّدُ مَا الرُّوحُ فَقَامَ فَتَوَكَّأَ عَلَى الْعَسِيبِ قَالَ فَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهُ يُوحَى إِلَيْهِ فَقَالَ { وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنْ الرُّوحِ قُلْ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنْ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا } قَالَ فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ قَدْ قُلْنَا لَكُمْ لَا تَسْأَلُوهُ.
English Translation
Waki’ told us: al-A’mash told us, from Ibrahim, from Alqamah, from Abdullah, who said: I was walking with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in a cultivated field in Madinah, and he was leaning on a palm-stalk. He said: He passed by a group of Jews, and some of them said to others, "Ask him about the spirit." Some of them said, "Do not ask him." But they asked him about the spirit, saying, "O Muhammad, what is the spirit?" He stood leaning on the palm-stalk. He said: I thought that revelation was being sent down to him. Then he said, {And they ask you about the spirit. Say: The spirit is of the affair of my Lord, and you have not been given of knowledge except a little}. He said: Then some of them said, "We told you not to ask him."