and Musaylima the Liar, or Ṭulayḥa al-Asadī, or al-Ḥārith al-Dimashqī, or Bābā al-Rūmī, or any of the rest—no one is entitled to cite as proof anything they claimed Allah had sent them with. Even if the statement were known to be true on some other basis, their manifest falsehood shows that Allah never sent them; therefore, whatever they assert that Allah revealed to them is a lie. Once a person is proved to have fabricated a specific report, it is impermissible to treat as evidence any item belonging to that very category in which his lying has been established.

Likewise, were someone of rationalist leanings to say, “Moses, or David, or the Messiah lied against Allah in part of what they convey from Him,” they would stand on the same footing as those whom Allah never sent with anything, but who lied in claiming that Allah had sent them. If, after making such a claim, he then wished to build an argument on what the Torah, the Psalms, or the Gospel relate from Allah, he would be self-contradictory, and his proof would be null and unacceptable.

Indeed, even if he were to say, “I am uncertain about some of what they reported from Allah—did they lie in it or not?” that very doubt would amount to doubting that Allah sent them at all, for the one whom Allah dispatches does not lie about anything, whether by mistake or on purpose; and while harboring doubt about