—as in His words: “until it returns like an old date-stalk” (Yā Sīn 36:39).

He also says: “When they would not accept guidance through it, they will say, ‘This is nothing but an ancient fabrication’” (Al-Aḥqāf 46:11),

and His saying: “Have you considered what you have been worshipping—you and your earliest forefathers?” (Ash-Shuʿarāʾ 26:75-76).

Some scholastic theologians then confined the term qadīm to “that which was not preceded by non-existence,” or “that which nothing else preceded,” and this became, in their view, the very literal sense of the word. Consequently, many of them came to think that using qadīm for anything that merely precedes something else, in an unqualified manner, is figurative.

It therefore becomes clear that the Exalted One’s intent in His words, “Indeed, Our word has already gone forth to Our servants, the messengers” (37:171), is of the same kind as His saying, “Had a word not previously gone forth from your Lord, the punishment would have been inevitable” (20:129).

His word had already gone forth concerning what would happen: the victory granted to the messengers, the filling of Hell with jinn and all human beings, and the like.

Yet these deviant individuals tampered with the wording of the verse, reading it as “to Our righteous servants,” and claiming that “the word” refers to the Messiah, whereas there is nothing in