So He laid bare the state of those who voiced such claims, even though they themselves knew it was the most flagrant falsehood. These narratives recounted in the Quran were unknown to anyone in Mecca—let alone that someone there could have dictated them to him—as He says: “You never recited any scripture before this, nor did you write it down with your right hand” (al-ʿAnkabūt 48); and He says: “Neither you nor your people ever knew them before this” (Hūd 49). For that very reason He also says: “It has been sent down by Him who knows the secret in the heavens and the earth” (al-Furqān 6).

Thus He made clear that this revelation comes from the knowledge of the One who knows every hidden thing, for human beings can learn of it only through the reports of the prophets, and in Mecca there was no one who possessed the knowledge conveyed by the prophets.

He then mentioned the demands they put forward, saying: