and, despite their fierce hostility toward him, this acknowledgment on their part stood as a clear sign for all nations that neither he nor they possessed such knowledge.

For that very reason, whenever one of them ventured an obvious calumny against him, they all knew it to be a lie. Whenever they gathered together to discuss his affair, they recognised that the charge levelled against him was patent falsehood, even though some of them would say, “He is mad,” others, “He is a soothsayer,” others, “He is a sorcerer,” others, “He learned it from another human being,” and still others, “(What he brings is) a jumble of dreams.”

Allah Himself has cited their statements, laying bare the manifest falsehood of anyone who uttered them and showing that such words issue from a bewildered, misguided soul—stunned by the Messenger’s undeniable reality and at a loss for what to say—just as the Exalted said:

“Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion to His servant that he might be a warner to all peoples; He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, who has taken no son and has no partner in the sovereignty; He created everything and determined it with exact measure. Yet they have taken, besides Him, gods that create nothing while they themselves are created; they possess for themselves neither harm nor benefit, and they hold no power over death, life, or resurrection. The disbelievers say, ‘This is nothing but a lie he has fabricated, and other people have helped him with it.’ Thus have they produced injustice and falsehood. And they say, ‘(It is) the tales of the ancients that he has had written down; they are read out to him morning and evening.’ Say, ‘It has been sent down by Him who knows the secret in the heavens and the earth. He is ever Forgiving, ever Merciful.’” (al-Furqān 1-6)