Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 146
Now if we turn to a study of the Quran we shall see that this division between the two meanings of the term "evidence" is not relevant, because it is a striking characteristic of the Quranic revelation that it gives not only witness, but always and at the same time also furnishes proof. The Quran never makes an assertion and merely leave it at that. The Quran invariably gives proof in support of every assertion. A close study of any given passage will reveal that there is full evidence, i. e. both witness and proof together. You may have noticed that I treat Quranic evidence and Islamic evidence as synonymous. Muslim scholars state that there are several sources of knowledge of what Islam is. First the Quran, then the practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and then the collected body of the sayings of the Prophet, many add to these such sources as consensus and rational insight. Whatever the learned scholars of different schools have been inclined to say about the classification of these sources, I for my part, and those who think like me, underline the simple historical fact that the Quranic revelation that came to Muhammad sa over a period of 23 years from 610 to 632 A. D. and was committed to memory and writing simultaneously, is in all respects a perfect and sufficient document from which we gain all necessary evidence about our faith. Whatever is reported from the Holy Prophet is by way of interpretation of this evidence. That is to say, what the Holy Prophet said has no independent status; it is all through secondary, though it serves to elucidate many a point. Yet it can never add any essential knowledge to that which we possess in the Holy Quran. Reason can with all its inherent weaknesses help us to understand the Message, but just as interpretation is already incorporated in the Message, likewise are rational arguments -as I have already pointed out. There remains one single perfect source 138