Shaykh Muḥammad Taqī ad-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Hilālī al-Maghribī ؒ (d. 1407 AH / 1987 CE) recounts the following discussion in Al-Barāhīn al-Injīliyyah ʿalā Anna ʿĪsā Dākhil fī al-ʿUbūdiyyah wa-Lā Ḥaẓẓa Lahu fī al-Ulūhiyyah:
Responding to the Objections
Smith asked me, “Are you a Muslim?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “Surely Muḥammad did not know history!” I asked, “How do you know that?” He replied, “Because he said in the Qurʾān, in Sūrah Maryam:
يَا أُخْتَ هَارُونَ مَا كَانَ أَبُوكِ امْرَأَ سَوْءٍ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمُّكِ بَغِيًّا
“O sister of Aaron, your father was not an evil man, and your mother was not unchaste!” [Q 19:28]
I replied, “You have not reached the knowledge of the Christians’ stratagems or their enmity towards Islam that George Sale possessed. He was the first to translate the Noble Qurʾān into English, and in his note on this verse he said that the Christians’ objection fails, because no Muslim would interpret the Aaron mentioned here as the brother of Moses in such a way that one could object that many generations separated Moses and his brother Aaron from Jesus and his mother.”
Editorial Note: The preceding paragraph renders Al-Hilālī’s account of Sale’s explanation. The original English article instead inserted a direct extract from Sale, which is retained below. Sale’s actual note lists several explanations, including kinship or comparison with Moses’s brother; it does not simply say that no Muslim understood the name to refer to him. The statement that Sale was the first English translator is also Al-Hilālī’s wording: an English version attributed to Alexander Ross appeared in 1649, before Sale’s 1734 translation.
“Several Christian writers think the Korân stands convicted of a manifest falsehood in this particular, but I am afraid the Mohammedans may avoid the charge…” (George Sale, note on 19:28.)
Smith said, “Mr Aḥmad Khān, the founder of Aligarh Islamic University, acknowledged this objection.” I replied, “As for me, I do not recognise Mr Aḥmad Khān, nor do I know him. I have heard the answer from one of your predecessors in enmity towards Islam, so you have nothing further to say.”
Editorial Note: This is the institution’s name as given in the dialogue. Sir Syed Aḥmad Khān founded the college that later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, after his death.
He then said, “There is a contradiction in the Qurʾān. In Sūrah al-Māʾidah, it says:
وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ الْإِنجِيلِ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ
“Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed in it.” [Q 5:47] (excerpt)
And in Sūrah Āl ʿImrān, it says:
وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
“Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.” [Q 3:85]
How can we act upon both?” I thought for a moment, then answered with inspiration from Allah : “Before answering this objection, we must consider the dispute between the Prophet and the Christians. What was it about?” He said, “You tell me.”
I replied, “It concerned Jesus, the son of Mary. The Christians of Najrān came to the Prophet and accused him of belittling their companion. He asked, ‘Who is your companion?’ They replied, ‘Jesus, the son of Mary.’ He asked, ‘How have I belittled him?’ They said, ‘You deny that he is the son of Allah and say that he is human like other people.’ He debated with them and established the proof, but they resisted. Allah then revealed two verses in Sūrah Āl ʿImrān concerning Jesus:
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ
“Indeed, the likeness of Jesus before Allah is that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him, ‘Be’, and he is. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among those who doubt.” [Q 3:59–60]
When they persisted in their obstinacy and claimed that he was the son of Allah and one of three, Allah commanded him to engage in mubāhalah with them. When he came out to do so, they feared engaging in it and made peace with him. In relation to this dispute, Allah said:
وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ الْإِنجِيلِ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ
“Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed in it.” [Q 5:47] (excerpt)
The account of the Najrān delegation coming to the Prophet and offering Christian prayer in his mosque with his permission is mentioned in books of hadith and biography.”
Publication Note: Mubāhalah means that the disputing parties gather with their children and women and ask Allah to bring His curse and punishment upon the liars among them. The note states that the delegation’s visit, discussion and invitation to mubāhalah are authentic in their basic account and found in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and other hadith collections, while the report of permission to pray in the mosque is not authentic. Allah knows best. This records that note’s assessment; its individual chains have not been newly graded here.
Smith said, “But the Gospels indicate that he is the son of Allah and one of three.” I replied, “I have not read the Gospel, but I firmly believe that the Gospel is true and from Allah. What is from Allah does not contradict itself; it must agree with the Qurʾān concerning Allah’s oneness and the servanthood of Jesus, the son of Mary.”
Publication Note: He means the Gospel in its original form, before distortion and alteration. Despite subsequent alteration, elements of truth remain. The same applies to the Torah, as when the Prophet drew the ruling of stoning a previously married adulterer from the Jews’ Torah.
Smith said, “This is your way. Partisanship prevents you from reading the Torah and Gospel. As for me, I have the Qurʾān in three languages.” I replied, “The Arabic language of the Gospel is poorly expressed and cannot be understood. I am studying English so that I can read it.” He said, “Promise me you will read it, and I will order you a copy from London that will reach you in a month.” I promised him. When it arrived, he sent it with a note in English saying, “I ask Allah to give you many blessings through this book.”
Reading the Gospel and Defending the Religion
I began reading it, consulting dictionaries for words I did not understand, and then read it a third time. I recorded these issues in a short work called Ḥawāshī Shattā ʿalā Injīl Mattā (Various Notes on the Gospel of Matthew). I published it in Ash-Shabāb al-Muslimīn, a magazine issued in Basra by our friend Al-Ḥājj Ṭāhā al-Fayyāḍ ؒ. When I told Amīr Shakīb Arslān ؒ about these notes, he asked me for them. I told him they had been lost at the printing house, and he was deeply saddened. I am now prepared to write similar notes or better ones. Yet many of our Muslim brothers take little interest in defending their religion and do not assist those who wish to defend it; indeed, they abandon them. Of such people, these lines are recited:
لو كنت من مازن لم تستبح إبلي بنو اللقيطة من ذهل بن شيبانا
قوم إذا الشر أبدى ناجذيه لهم طاروا إليه زرافات ووحدانا
لا يسألون أخاهم حين يندبهم في النائبات على ما قال برهانا
يجزون من ظلم أهل الظلم مغفرة ومن إساءة أهل السوء إحسانا
فليت لي بهم قوما إذا ركبوا شنوا الإغارة فرسانا وركبانا“Were I of Māzin, my camels would not be taken as lawful by the sons of al-Laqīṭah from Dhuhl ibn Shaybān. A people who, when evil bares its fangs at them, rush towards it in groups and individually. When their brother calls them in a calamity, they do not demand proof for what he says. My people repay the wrongs of the oppressors with forgiveness and the offences of evildoers with kindness. If only I had in their place a people who, when they mounted, launched raids as horsemen and riders.” (Lines traditionally attributed to Qurayṭ ibn Unayf al-ʿAnbarī; reproduced in the source.)
When the book reached me, I thanked Smith. After reading and understanding it, I wrote again: “Allah has answered your prayer and given me many blessings through this book. However, they contradict and invalidate your position. You said such and such during our discussion, but in such and such a chapter and verse I found that what you said was incorrect. The Gospel, like the Qurʾān, affirms Allah’s oneness and clearly affirms Jesus’s humanity and servanthood in many places.”
Sincerity and Its Effects
I testify that this young pastor was sincere in his call and extremely ardent. Whenever I told him that something contradicted reason, he would say that reason is deficient, Allah’s speech is perfect, and Allah knows what we do not.
I once visited him at his mission before the book arrived and found that he ate no meat, either alone or in public. He instructed his cook to prepare vegetarian food for him and meat dishes for his wife and son. I asked him about this. He replied, “The pagans whom I call to Christianity intensely dislike eating meat, so I seek to win them over. I have given up meat for the Messiah’s sake.” I said, “But they do not see you in your home.” He replied, “I cannot lie to them, claiming that I do not eat meat while I do.”
His call therefore influenced them. I saw thirty men with their wives and children obeying his instructions. He instructed them to build a church, which they built with their own hands despite their poverty. This contrasted with the pastor who had taught me English in Lucknow: no one believed him because he himself was not a believer. Sincerity is the secret of success, even in falsehood.
References
Qurayṭ ibn Unayf al-ʿAnbarī, the traditional attribution supplied in the original translator’s note for the five poetic lines. The original collection and its edition have not been collated.
The Noble Qurʾān, 19:28; 5:47 (opening excerpt, twice); 3:85; 3:59–60. The first 5:47 Arabic quotation has been shortened to match the English excerpt.
Abū al-Layth Qāsim ibn Aggrey Mutiva, English translation, Evidence from the Gospel That Jesus Is a Servant of Allah and Has No Right to Be Worshipped, user-supplied Word publication, dialogue with Smith and footnotes 49–53. All five notes are retained in the article; publication date unverified.
Alexander Ross, The Alcoran of Mahomet, 1649, English version translated from French, preceding Sale’s 1734 version; discussed in the introduction to Sale’s electronic text.
Aligarh Muslim University, institutional history, college established through Sir Syed Aḥmad Khān’s efforts and transformed into the university in 1920.
An earlier electronic text bearing www.alhilali.net, introduced by Muḥammad Jamīl Ḥammāmī and dated 3 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī 1431 AH, pp. 10–13, was used for the initial comparison. The passage has now also been collated against the user’s Dār al-Midād scan. The translator’s mubāhalah, mosque-report and original-Gospel notes also appear in that earlier text; they are clearly separated from Al-Hilālī’s narrative.
George Sale, The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mohammed, note on chapter 19, “O sister of Aaron”, public-domain electronic text. The original reference pp. 250–251 has not been matched to a particular edition. The Arabic source paraphrases Sale; no Arabic back-translation of his original English is supplied.
Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī ؒ (d. 256 AH / 870 CE), Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, cited without a number in the source note concerning Najrān. The note’s precise report and grading evidence remain uncollated.
Muḥammad Taqī ad-Dīn al-Hilālī, Al-Barāhīn al-Injīliyyah ʿalā Anna ʿĪsā ʿalayhi as-Salām Dākhil fī al-ʿUbūdiyyah wa-Lā Ḥaẓẓa Lahu fī al-Ulūhiyyah, Dār al-Midād, with introduction and annotations by Rabīʿ ibn Hādī ibn ʿUmayr al-Madkhalī ؒ (d. 1447 AH / 2025 CE), pp. 24–29 of the user-supplied scan, available through the supplied Telegram source post. Rabīʿ’s introduction is dated 15 Shawwāl 1431 AH; the publisher’s introduction, signed by Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā az-Zahrānī, is dated 11 Ṣafar 1437 AH. The volume’s printing date and place are not stated in the scanned front matter. The dialogue excerpt begins on p. 24; the preceding narrative is not added. The sentence on p. 29 that he listed seven passages and that this was his last contact with Smith was absent from the original English publication and website article and is not added.
