despite what is known: that before he was commissioned, every one of them was an unbeliever, and that once he was sent only a small number accepted him. The disbelievers were among the most determined of people to invalidate his claim, exerting themselves by every means at their disposal. At times they would go to the People of the Scripture and ask them about matters of the unseen so that they could turn around and question him about them—as when they asked about the story of Joseph, the Companions of the Cave, and Dhū’l-Qarnayn, as noted earlier. At other times they would convene meeting after meeting to decide what they should say about him, striking analogies and likening him to men who bore no true resemblance to him, on the strength of some imagined similarity, even though the difference was obvious.

Thus at one moment they would say, “He is mad.” At another: “He is a sorcerer.” Then: “He is a soothsayer.” Then again: “He is a poet,” and so on—remarks that they themselves, and every rational person who heard them, knew to be pure fabrication.

Now, since he had repeatedly challenged them to produce a counter-text that would overturn his message, it is self-evident that had they been able to do so, they would have done it; for whenever a fully compelling motive exists and the ability is present, the act inevitably follows. The same reasoning applies to everyone else on earth.

This alone yields clear knowledge for every person that all humanity is incapable of bringing forth anything like this Qur’an, whether by stratagem or without stratagem. It is therefore more decisive than those signs whose type can reoccur, such as the reviving of the dead—for no one has ever