at that time a young child who had not yet reached puberty. He was among those who followed the Messenger. Even had he been the Messenger of Allah’s son rather than his cousin, his testimony would have carried no weight with either Muslims or disbelievers. Indeed, such testimony is open to suspicion of bias arising from kinship. Hence, most scholars hold that a father’s testimony in favour of his child, or a child’s testimony in favour of his father, is not accepted. How, then, could such testimony be made evidence confirming the prophethood of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?

For the same reason, they said that Allah’s words,

“and whoever has knowledge of the Scripture,”

refer to ‘Alī. Besides their lying, they are the most ignorant of people, for they have attributed to Allah and the Messenger the use of an argument that only an ignorant person would use. Seeking to exalt ‘Alī, they have attributed ignorance to Allah and the Messenger. Yet ‘Alī’s merit lies only in his following the Messenger: if the foundation is undermined, what rests upon it is invalidated.

As for the view of some commentators that the “witness” is Gabriel, peace be upon him, ‘Ikrimah narrated this from Ibn ‘Abbās. Ibn Abī Hātim cited it from him, and cited similar statements from Abū al-‘Āliyah, Abū Sālih, Mujāhid—in one of the reports from him—Ibrāhīm, ‘Ikrimah, al-Dahhāk and ‘Atā’ al-Khurāsānī. These commentators understood “and follows it” to mean “recites it”: that is, a witness from Allah—Gabriel—recites the Quran, which is the clear proof. Another explanation is that what they mean is that the Quran, which Gabriel recites, is the witness for Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; that is, what he recites has come from Allah. The weakness of this view has already been explained, for everyone who interprets “follows it”