the Most Merciful? Should we prostrate to that which you order us?’—thereby denying this name. It was as though he considered it impossible for the polytheists to deny what they knew to be true, or as though he had not read the words in the Book: ‘Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognize him’—meaning Muhammad—‘as they recognize their own sons’1, even though they reject him and deny his prophethood. He would thereby have known that they disputed truths whose validity had been established for them and which they knew with certainty…”2. He then cited the two preceding lines of verse.

Ibn Kathīr said: “Some have claimed that the Arabs were unfamiliar with the Most Merciful, until Allah refuted this with His words:

‘Say, “Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever name you call upon, to Him belong the most beautiful names.”’3

For this reason, on the day of al-Hudaybiyah, when the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—instructed ‘Alī to write, ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful,’ the disbelievers of Quraysh said, ‘We do not know the Most Merciful or the Especially Merciful.’ This was narrated by al-Bukhārī. In some versions, they said, ‘We know no Rahmān except the Rahmān of al-Yamāmah.’ Allah Most High says:

‘And when it is said to them, “Prostrate to the Most Merciful,” they say, “And what is the Most Merciful? Should we prostrate to that which you order us?” And it increases them in aversion.’4

It appears that their denial was nothing but willful rejection, obstinacy, and intransigence in their disbelief, for their pre-Islamic poetry contains instances of Allah Most High being called the Most Merciful…”5.

I say: The writer is not merely denying that the polytheists were familiar with ‘the Most Merciful,’ in which case he would be among