God Arises
Affirmation of Prophethood
~ 268 ~
Abu Sufyan: Never.
Heraclius: Has he ever failed to keep his word?
Abu Sufyan: No, he had never broken any promise,
any agreement.
Heraclius: When it has been experienced that he
never tells a lie when the matter is between men,
then how can it be said that he can concoct such a
great lie in the matter of God?
This dialogue took place when Abu Sufyan himself
had not yet accepted Islam and had actually been
leading military campaigns against the Prophet.
Abu Sufyan admitted that he had not felt inclined to
tell the emperor the truth, but, because of his fellow
Arabs being present, he felt obliged to do so for fear
of being dubbed a liar.
In the entire history of mankind we find no
comparable paradox: a leader of men held in the
highest of esteem by enemies so diametrically
opposed to him that they were ready to assassinate
him. The fact that even his deadliest antagonists
