—out of their homes in their thousands for fear of death; whereupon God said to them, “Die!” and then brought them back to life. He recounted as well the story of the man whom God caused to die for one hundred years and then revived, together with other episodes drawn from the history of the Children of Israel.

He continued until he mentioned the story of Zachariah and his son John, and Jesus son of Mary—the circumstances of the Messiah, his signs, his supplication on behalf of his people, the miracles with which he was sent, and all their details. He also narrated the story of the Companions of the Cave, the account of Dhu al-Qarnayn, and many other narratives of prophets, the righteous, and the disbelievers, laid out with the clearest exposition and the fullest knowledge.

All this came while his own people—who had known every detail of his life from childhood until the moment he claimed prophethood—were certain that he had not learnt it from any human being. He had never sat with anyone versed in such matters, nor was there in Mecca anyone who possessed that knowledge—neither Jew, nor Christian, nor anyone else.

This, therefore, was among the greatest signs and proofs for his people that God alone had taught and informed him. Knowledge of such unseen realities can come only to a prophet or to someone who learns from a prophet; since he had not taken it from another prophet, it necessarily followed that he himself was a prophet.

Furthermore, all other people on earth likewise know that he did not acquire this knowledge from any human source, for several reasons. One of them is that his own folk—his adversaries, who were the most determined of people to