He responded, “By Allah, this is Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the Messenger of Allah.”

And—Allah knows—he rose to his feet, then sat back down and said, “I adjure you by the God of your religion: is he truly your Prophet?”

We answered, “We swear by the God of our religion that he is indeed our Prophet; it is as though we can see him before us.”

He then added, “That image was actually meant to be at the end of the doors, but I brought it forward to see what you would say.”

After that he resumed, opening one door after another while announcing, “This is Moses; this is Aaron; this is David; this is Solomon; this is Jesus.”

All these expressions are used because their intended meaning is clear and people understand what the speaker means—just as when someone points to a name written in a book and says, “This is So-and-so.”

Obviously, what is found in the book is only the written name, not the actual person who exists outside the book.

The same principle is found in the Almighty’s words: “and everything they ever did is recorded in the scrolls” (al-Qamar 54:52).

What the scrolls contain is merely a mention of their deeds and the written record of them.

Likewise, in legal documents one writes, “This is what So-and-so paid as a bridal gift,” or, “This is what So-and-so and So-and-so have agreed upon.” One may also write, “This is the record of what So-and-so paid as a bridal gift, or of what So-and-so and So-and-so have agreed upon.” Thus at times the reference is to the actual matter itself, and at other times to its written mention.