Attempt to Poison the Prophet ﷺ at Khaybar

When the terms at Khaybar were settled and the Prophet ﷺ was its new master, its people did what people do for a new ruler and sent him a gift: a great tray of the finest food, with a roasted lamb. What the Muslims did not know was that it had been cooked by a woman whose husband had died in the fighting, who had asked which cut of meat Muhammad ﷺ liked best, been told the shoulder, and poisoned the whole lamb and the shoulder most of all. The Prophet ﷺ sat down with his Companions, took one bite, and told them all to stop: the shoulder of the lamb had told him it was poisoned. Bishr ibn al-Bara had already swallowed his, and died of it a few days later; others spat theirs out and had to be treated. The Prophet ﷺ had not swallowed, but he felt the poison for the rest of his life, and on his deathbed four years later he told Aisha that he still felt the effects of what he had eaten at Khaybar.

He sent for the Jews who had given the gift and asked whether they would answer him truthfully. They said they would. Who was their ancestor? They named one; he told them they lied, and named the right one, and they conceded it. Would they tell him the truth now? Abu al-Qasim, they said, you have shown us that you know when we lie. Who then would enter the Fire? They would, they said, for a while, and then Allah would take them out, and Muhammad ﷺ and his people would stay in it forever. Stay there, then, he said, humiliated; by Allah we will never follow you into it. And a third time: would they tell the truth? Had they poisoned the lamb? They had. Why? If he was a liar they would be rid of him, and if he was a prophet it could not harm him. Their honesty, perhaps, is what saved them. They named the cook. Asked why, she said he had killed her husband and her uncle and her people, and she had wanted to kill him. Some Companions wanted her put to death. The reports differ on what followed, and Ibn al-Qayyim reconciles them: the Prophet ﷺ forgave her for what she had tried to do to him, and when Bishr died of it days later she was executed in retaliation for him, since his blood was not the Prophet ﷺ's to forgive.