nothing but the legends of the earlier peoples which he has had written down, exactly as they were written.”

So Allah, exalted is He, revealed:
“And they say, ‘Legends of the former peoples which he has had written down; they are dictated to him morning and evening.’” (al-Furqān 5)
—and also His saying:
“Woe to every sinful fabricator.” (al-Jāthiyah 7)

Ibn Isḥāq (1) said: One day—so it has reached us (2)—the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in the Mosque with al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah when al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith came and joined them. Several other Quraysh notables were present as well. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke, and al-Naḍr tried to dispute with him. The Prophet ﷺ answered him until he silenced him, then recited to him and to them:
“Indeed you and whatever you worship besides Allah are fuel for Hell; you will surely enter it. Had those (objects of worship) truly been gods, they would not have entered it, and all will abide therein forever. In it they will groan, and there they will hear nothing.” (al-Anbiyāʾ 98–100)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then rose and left. Shortly afterward ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zibʿarā al-Sahmī arrived and sat down. Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah said to him, “By God, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith has only just stood up and sat down, and Muḥammad claims that we and whatever we worship of these gods of ours are fuel for Hell.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zibʿarā replied, “By God, had I found him I would have refuted him. Ask Muḥammad: is everything that (3) is worshipped apart from Allah to be fuel for Hell along with those who worship it? We worship the angels; the Jews worship ʿUzayr; the Christians worship Jesus.” Al-Walīd and the others in the gathering were amazed by Ibn al-Zibʿarā’s words and thought he had produced a sound argument. News of this reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, whereupon he said:

“Everyone who loves to be worshipped besides Allah will be with those who worshipped him in the Fire. In reality they are worshipping devils and those who ordered them to worship.”

Allah the Exalted then revealed:
“Indeed, those for whom the best reward has already gone forth from Us—they will be kept far away from it. They will not hear even its faintest sound, and they will remain forever in what their souls desire.” (al-Anbiyāʾ 101–102)
—that is, Jesus, ʿUzayr, and all those rabbis and monks who were worshipped yet had themselves lived in obedience to Allah.

As for their claim that they worship the angels and that the angels are the daughters of Allah, He revealed:
“And they say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a child.’ Exalted is He! Rather, they are honoured servants.” (al-Anbiyāʾ 26)
—and the verses that follow.

Concerning the idolaters’ admiration for Ibn al-Zibʿarā’s argument, He revealed:
“When the son of Mary is cited as an example, your people turn away from it and say, ‘Are our gods better, or is he?’ They put this to you only for the sake of argument; in truth, they are a contentious people.” (al-Zukhruf 57–58)

This line of disputation they adopted is false, and they know it, for they are Arabs, and in their language the particle mā is used for inanimate things. Hence His words, “Indeed you and whatever (mā) you worship besides Allah are fuel for Hell” (al-Anbiyāʾ 98) refer only to the stones they fashioned into idols, and do not include the angels whom they claim to worship through those images, nor the Messiah, nor ʿUzayr, nor any of the righteous, for the wording embraces none of them—neither literally nor in meaning. They therefore know that the example they advanced about Jesus son of Mary is a baseless argument, just as Allah Most High said: “They put this to you only for the sake of argument; indeed, they are a contentious people.”

He then said: “He—meaning Jesus—is nothing but a servant upon whom We bestowed favour, and We made him an example for the Children of Israel” (al-Zukhruf 59), i.e., a sign of Our perfect power to do whatever We will, for We created him from a woman without a man, and He has