the addressee understands—such as Greek or Syriac—be reliable, for the language of Moses, David, Jesus, and the other prophets of the Children of Israel was Hebrew. Whoever claims that Jesus spoke Syriac or Greek is in error.

Third: that those words be properly interpreted and their meaning correctly understood.

For this reason Muslims never dismiss an argument by alleging that a prophet himself lied about something he said. Instead, they may reject the reliability of the person who transmits the report, or they may explain the transmitted words in the sense they believe the prophet intended, or construe them in another way through honest mistake.

Even if some Muslims err by denying certain reports or by misinterpreting some transmitted statements, their error is like the mistakes made by others—whether from among themselves or from the followers of other religions—who, through misunderstanding, deny part of what is narrated from someone whose prophethood they acknowledge, or who misread the texts handed down from him.

This stands in stark contrast to denying the prophet himself, for that is outright unbelief. The People of the Book, however, cannot maintain their position without denying part of what Allah has revealed. The moment a person rejects even a single word reported by one who claims to be the Messenger of Allah, his appeal to the rest of that messenger’s words collapses and his proof is invalidated. For the one who says, “I am the Messenger of Allah”

is either truthful in that claim—in which case he is truthful in everything he reports from Allah—or he is a liar, even if only in a single word attributed to Allah.

If he is truthful in that claim, it is inconceivable that he would lie about Allah in anything he conveys from Him, for whoever forges a lie against Allah, even in a single word, is among those who—