the Book from adducing any report transmitted from earlier prophets that conflicts with what is authentically established from Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—whether the claimant acknowledges Muhammad’s prophethood or denies it. Indeed, should he base his case on something reported from Muhammad himself, it will immediately be shown that his inference is invalid and that the very text he quoted constitutes evidence against him, not for him.

If he seeks proof in a report ascribed to any other prophet—peace be upon them all—he must first concede, for the sake of argument, that this prophet was genuine while Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was not. Otherwise, imagine two individuals who both claim prophethood, both present the signs by which prophethood is normally confirmed, yet two mutually contradictory statements are transmitted from them. In that situation it would be impermissible to affirm one prophet and reject the other unless conclusive evidence establishes the truthfulness of one and the falsehood of the other; the same applies when each of them is challenged by objections of the very same kind.

Hence no reproach can be directed at Muslims when they dismiss whatever the People of the Book cite from the prophets if it contradicts the report of Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him. Muslims never impugn the prophethood of any of the well-known prophets; what they reject is the allegation that those prophets actually conveyed something that conflicts with Muhammad’s message. Such an allegation is unsupported, for neither the exact wording, nor its translation, nor its authentic interpretation has been firmly established—and it is impossible for these three essential premises to be sound in support of anything that contradicts Muhammad’s report, whether in broad terms or in detail.

Consequently, whenever the People of the Book raise an objection they are required to uphold three preliminary conditions.

First: to assume that those earlier prophets were truthful, whereas Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was untruthful.