the Qur’an-reciters of this community are braver of heart than the Prophet ﷺ because they did not feel any terror at the Companions of the Cave? And what reply can he possibly give for such vile speech, uttered without verification and without the slightest reflection on the evil implications that drag their speaker into disbelief and make his execution obligatory? More than one scholar has recorded the consensus that whoever belittles or reviles the Prophet ﷺ is a disbeliever and must be put to death. This is cited by Qadi ʿIyad in al-Shifaʾ, by Shaykh al-Islam Abu al-ʿAbbas Ibn Taymiyyah in al-Sarim al-Maslul ʿala Shatim al-Rasul, by Ibn Hajar al-Makki in al-Zawajir ʿan Iqtiraf al-Kabaʾir, and by other leading scholars.

With this in mind, no Muslim possessed of sound reason and faith can doubt that the Prophet ﷺ was the most courageous of mankind, the most composed in judgment, and the farthest removed from every defect or flaw. He was not seized with fear of the Companions of the Cave when Allah informed him about them, let alone have an image of dread remain fixed in his mind. Anyone with the least measure of intellect and religion would find such a notion unimaginable.

In short, it is imperative to absolve the Prophet ﷺ of the deficiencies that this ignorant writer has pinned on him, and of every imperfection and fault—even by implication or remote consequence.