Twentieth Proof: Isaiah, speaking about the Black Stone, said: “The Lord, the Sovereign, declared: ‘Behold, I am setting in Zion a stone in the corner of one of its walls. Whoever believes shall not be in haste. I will make justice the plumb line and truth the balance, and those who are enamored of falsehood shall perish.’” (1)

Zion, according to the People of the Book, refers to Mecca—indeed, every house erected for worship is called Zion, and the word is also used for the Holy Land (2). The Black Stone is the very stone kissed by kings and commoners alike, a distinction granted uniquely to Muhammad and his community.

Twenty-first Proof (3): Isaiah said elsewhere: “The wilderness and the towns shall be filled with palaces as far as Qedar; from the mountaintops they will call out to them—those who honor God with glory and extol His praise on land and sea.” He also said (4): “Raise a banner for all nations from afar; whistle to them from the ends of the earth, and they will come swiftly.” (5)

The descendants of Qedar are the Arabs, for Qedar is the son of Ishmael by unanimous agreement. The banner that is raised is prophethood; the whistle is their summons from the farthest reaches of the earth to the pilgrimage. Thus they hasten to come, in perfect accord with His words, exalted be He: “Proclaim the pilgrimage to mankind; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every distant pass.” (Qur’an 22:27).