—and that they were taken to the king, where they found in his possession a large, square, gilded chest. It contained a number of small compartments. He opened one of them and drew out a piece of black silk on which a white image was woven, and he said it depicted Adam. Then he opened a second compartment, produced another silk cloth, and it bore the image of Noah, then of Abraham. After that he showed them a silk cloth bearing the image of Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—

and said, “This is the last of the compartments, but I have brought it forward first to see what you might say.” He then opened other compartments and showed them the images of the remaining prophets—Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon them all—as well as the likenesses of Lot and Isaac. He added that this collection had been in their keeping since the time of Adam and that Daniel had portrayed them exactly as they were.

A similar account is related from al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah: when he entered upon al-Muqawqas, the ruler of Egypt and Alexandria and leader of the Christians, al-Muqawqas produced portraits of the prophets and also brought out the image of our Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—which al-Mughīrah immediately recognized.

The third line of argument is this: his repeated statements to that effect in the Quran itself, his summoning of the People of the Book to testify, and his declaration that he is mentioned in their scriptures—matters that must lead any discerning person