Appearance
A Persuasive or a Demonstrative Answer?
وَقَالُواْ كُونُواْ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَى تَهْتَدُواْ قُلْ بَلْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
And they say, ‘Be Jews or Christians, you will be guided.’ Say, ‘Rather, [we follow] the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth, and he was not of the polytheists.’ (2:135)
The question
When the People of the Book say Be Jews or Christians, you will be guided, is the reply Rather, the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth only a persuasive answer, or a demonstrative one?
Views answered: Fakhr al-Rāzī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Fakhr al-Rāzī calls the reply persuasive and says the demonstrative answer comes later. Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī disagrees: the passage has already shown the truth of Abraham’s religion by demonstration and made it the measure of right guidance and folly, and it goes on to demand proof from the People of the Book. Abraham’s upright religion is the religion of human nature, at once rational and accepted by all, so the reply is both demonstrative and the best form of argument.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
What kind of answer is Rather, the religion of Abraham? Read →
Fakhr al-Rāzī
A persuasive reply to the People of the Book; the demonstrative answer comes later in the passage.Jawādī Āmulī
Not merely persuasive: God first showed the truth of Abraham’s religion by demonstration and made it the measure of right guidance and folly, then told the People of the Book to bring their proof (2:111). The answer is both demonstrative and the best kind of argument.Why Abraham’s religion answers them Read →
The People of the Book
“Be Jews or Christians, you will be guided”: guidance only by becoming one of them.Jawādī Āmulī
His religion is the upright (ḥanīf) religion of human nature (30:30), accepted by all; it strikes out their claim that guidance means becoming Jewish or Christian.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.