the Messiah; and the Messiah himself came from Seir, the land of the Friend (Abraham), from a village called (Naṣirah) [Nazareth]—and from that name his followers are called Naṣārā (Christians).

Just as His shining forth from Seir must therefore be understood to refer to the Messiah, so His manifesting Himself from the mountains of Paran must refer to His sending down the Quran to Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for the mountains of Paran are the mountains of Mecca.

He said: There is no disagreement between the Muslims and the People of the Scripture that Paran is Mecca; if they claim it is something else, such a claim can only arise from their distortion and fabrication.

We said: Is it not written in the Torah that Abraham settled (Hagar) and (Ishmael) in Paran?

And we said: Show us the place from which Allah manifested Himself that is called Paran, and the prophet upon whom a book was sent down after the Messiah—are not the expressions (istaʿlana) and (ʿalana) alike in meaning, both denoting “to appear” and “to become manifest”