This is the furthest his stubborn denial can reach, and it has served only to lay bare his shame and parade his scandal through sheer lies and slander. The characteristics (1), descriptions, and signs recorded in their books correspond to him as perfectly as one arrow-feather matches another; anyone who knows those traits and then sees him cannot doubt that he is the very one intended. Thus Caesar and Salmān recognised him by the signs they had learned from certain scholars, and Heraclius likewise realised his prophethood from the marks he enquired about when he questioned Abū Sufyān. When the answers matched what he already possessed, he said, “If what you say is true, then he is a prophet, and he will soon rule everything beneath these two feet of mine.”

The same is true of the rabbis and monks mentioned earlier: they identified him by his description and attributes just as they recognise their own sons. Allah the Exalted says, “Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognise him as they recognise their own sons, yet a group of them knowingly conceals the truth” ⦗al-Baqarah 2:146⦘; and elsewhere, “Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognise him as they recognise their own sons; those who ruin their own souls—it is they who will not believe” ⦗al-Anʿām 6:20⦘.

It is evident that this recognition rests solely on the written description they possess, which (2) fits him exactly. One believer among them even said, “By Allah, one of us knows him better than his own son; a man may leave his wife and not know what will happen after he departs.”

For that reason Allah, glorified be He, praised those among them who recognised the truth and were not too arrogant to follow it: “You will certainly find the most hostile of people toward the believers to be the Jews and those who associate partners with Allah; and you will surely find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ to be nearest to them in affection. That is because—”