Home > Surah 43 - The Ornaments of Gold
1. Epistemic Accessibility:
Commanding Muhammad to consult past messengers or their followers presupposes that their authentic theological legacy remained accessible, coherent, and testable in the 7th century.
2. Implicit Textual Integrity:
If prior scriptures were hopelessly corrupted or lost long before, instructing the Prophet to cross-examine their teachings as a standard of monotheistic truth becomes functionally meaningless.
3. Presupposition of Reliability:
By directing Muhammad to check the historical record of former prophets, the text assumes the Judeo-Christian community possessed reliable witness to divine revelation.
Surah 43:45 commands Muhammad to inquire of previous messengers whether any deities were ever authorized for worship alongside God.
This verse is a highly effective polemical tool. Allah commands Muhammad:
Surah 43:45:
And ask those We sent before you of Our messengers: 'Have We made besides the Most Merciful deities to be worshipped?'
Muhammad is told to ask previous messengers (or their followers, the People of the Book) about their theology.
This command implies that the message of the previous messengers was still accessible, coherent, and reliable enough for Muhammad to consult. If the previous scriptures had been hopelessly corrupted centuries prior, this command would be completely meaningless. Therefore, the Quran assumes the theological integrity of the Judeo-Christian community during Muhammad's era.