Out of sheer fabrication they voiced mutually contradictory judgments about the Quran, declaring: “It is sorcery; it is fortune-telling; it is poetry; it is a lie; it is nothing but old legends.” In this way they tore the Quran into fragments (ʿiḍīn) (1). All of it was the product of the hatred that consumed their hearts until they spoke of it with the ravings of madmen.

Whenever they advanced one of these claims, Allah revealed verses that refuted their words, laying bare their mendacity, their slander, and their inconsistency.

Thus, one of the proofs of Muhammad’s prophethood, peace and blessings be upon him, and of the Quran’s divine origin, is precisely the opposition of his deniers. Whoever reflects on their stance will see that it turns into a weapon against them, providing the clearest evidence that they were fighting the truth, striving to extinguish it, and clinging to falsehood that has no part in sound reason just as it has no part in true religion.

They also made assertions about the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—that offered no support for their own beliefs and contained no real criticism of him. They would say, “If Muhammad were truthful, Allah would have sent down angels to bear witness for him; He would have enriched him so that he need not walk through the markets seeking a livelihood like other people; He would have granted him this or that,” conjuring up whatever their corrupt minds proposed. Allah cites these claims in several passages of the Quran:
• Sometimes He merely presents them to His servants, for once they contemplate them they recognize their futility and realize that they do not even rise to the level of plausible objections, let alone valid proofs.
• At other times He presents them and then states the clear facts that demolish them—and this appears frequently in the Quran.