Narrations have come down in this chapter concerning this ruling, and among them is the Almighty’s statement:

“Nor does the night outstrip the day” (Yā-Sīn 40),

meaning that it never precedes it so that a gap would arise between the two; rather, each of them is directly contiguous with the other.

The point to be stressed here is that knowing the language in which the Prophets addressed us—and by which their words must be interpreted—is a compulsory and inescapable obligation. Anyone who takes a different path has displaced their speech from its proper context and has lied about them and fabricated against them.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians are all agreed that this kind of distortion and alteration has in fact been committed by many among the followers of the three scriptures, that the Torah and the Gospel were corrupted in this respect, and that the Quran likewise has been distorted in this way by atheists and sectarian innovators.

The People of the Book relate that the Prophets used the terms ʾab (Father) and ibn (Son), intending by “Father” the Lord, and by “Son” the specially chosen, beloved one. No one has ever transmitted from the Prophets that they designated any of Allah’s attributes as a son, or that they said of any of His attributes that it was generated from Him or born to Him.

Accordingly, if it is found in the speech of the Messiah—peace be upon him—that he said:

(ʿammidū al-nāsa bi-smi al-ʾab wa-l-ibn wa-rūḥ al-qudus) — “Baptize the people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,”

and then they interpret “the Son” as an attribute of Allah