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 again sent a delegation to the Jews of Yathrib for tougher trick questions with which to test the Prophet ﷺ: the story of young men who slept for a long time in a cave, the account of a great traveler who journeyed from the east to the west, and the nature of the ruh (spirit/soul), a deliberate trick question. The Prophet ﷺ promised an answer the next day without saying insha'Allah, and revelation was delayed two weeks while the Quraysh mocked him, until Allah revealed Surah al-Kahf answering all three: the Companions of the Cave, Dhu al-Qarnayn, and the declaration that knowledge of the ruh belongs to Allah alone.
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.