Section

The questioner (1) said: “We are troubled by what comes to us through ʿAbd Allah ibn Salam and his companions. You have erected most of the very foundations (2) of your prescriptions and prohibitions—what is lawful and unlawful, commands and bans—upon the reports of ordinary Companions who, prior to the mission of your Prophet, had no background in scholarship, study, or writing. Ibn Salam and his companions, by contrast, were men of learning, research, study, and writing both before and after your Prophet was sent. Their ḥadiths and narrations, therefore, ought to be given priority. Yet we find that you transmit from them on matters of the lawful and the unlawful, and on commands and prohibitions, only the slightest amount, and even that you grade as weak.”

The reply has several parts.

First: This is a blatant slander on the part of its speaker. We have built the foundation of our law concerning the lawful and the unlawful, commands and prohibitions, on nothing but the Book of our Lord, the Glorious, of which He says, “Falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it; a revelation sent down by the All-Wise, the Praiseworthy” (41:42) [Fussilat: 42]—the Book He revealed to His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ (3). With it he challenged all nations, irrespective of their sciences, races, and temperaments, while he himself was in utter weakness and his enemies filled the earth. Had they produced anything comparable, they would have been worthier of the truth, and his falsehood and their truthfulness would have become evident. They were unable to do so. He then challenged them (to produce ten surahs like it, and they failed) (4); finally he challenged them to produce a single surah like it, and they still failed.