It is said to them: The most you have established by all of this is that you do not know, and that you possess no evidence; but the absence of knowledge is not knowledge of absence. Your not knowing something—and the fact that no one else knows it either—does not prove that the thing itself does not exist.

In the same way, the absence of a particular proof does not necessitate the absence of what that proof would indicate. Everything that Allah creates is itself a sign pointing to Him; were that sign to vanish, it still would not follow that the Creator has vanished. Hence it is invalid to negate a matter merely because no evidence for it has reached us—unless the very lack of evidence would itself inevitably entail its non-existence, as in those affairs that people are especially eager to transmit: if nothing of them is ever transmitted, one may then know they are not real.

What is meant, then, is that on the basis of mere ignorance you may issue a sweeping denial regarding anyone other than the Messiah, because no evidence has been produced. Yet from the lack of proof it does not follow that the thing denied is non-existent in reality—particularly since, according to you, the Deity was united with the Messiah for more than thirty years while remaining hidden and displaying only servitude.

If, therefore, someone were to say to them, “In the same way He was united with other prophets and righteous people, but He concealed Himself out of a wisdom He possessed; or He manifested Himself only to certain chosen servants; or He revealed Himself to a group whose report never reached us,” and the like—they could no longer, while still affirming the Christians’ claim, assert with certainty that such people are lying. Rather, whoever allows the Christians’ assertion must also allow that He could have united with other bodies, thereby turning many created bodies into ‘the Lord of all worlds,’ even though in reality He is not united with them.