from their Lord.

As for the Jews, their scholars recognized him and were certain (1) that he was Muḥammad son of ʿAbd Allāh. Some of them accepted faith in him, while others denied his prophethood and told their followers (2), “He has not yet appeared.”

As for the Christians, they applied the glad tidings found in the Torah and the subsequent prophecies to the Messiah. There is no doubt that some of those passages speak of him explicitly, some cannot possibly be applied to him, and some admit more than one interpretation. As for the glad tidings delivered by the Messiah himself, they attributed all of them to the disciples; whenever they encountered a passage that could not conceivably fit the disciples, they altered it, or kept silent and said, “We do not know whom it concerns.”

Fourth: the acknowledgment by those among them who embraced Islam that these passages are explicit in their books. From the truthful Muslims who had once belonged to the People of the Book, the Muslim community received (3) these glad tidings and became certain of their veracity, for they testified to them despite their different eras and lands, their large numbers, and their agreement on the very wording. Such testimony by itself would establish certainty even if the People of the Book had not admitted it—how much more so when they actually do acknowledge it, never denying the passages but only dodging their true interpretation and intended referent!

Each of these four avenues is sufficient to establish knowledge of the authenticity of those glad tidings. We have already pointed out that his ﷺ boldness in telling both his Companions and his adversaries that he is mentioned in their scriptures by name and description, and that they recognize him as clearly as they recognize their own sons,