life from his biography. Could you guys tell what you think, and also find the reference for the story in Ibn Hisham's biography?
The names of the fourteen principal men among the sixty riders were:
'Abdu'I-MasiJ; the 'Aqib, al-Ayham the Sayyid; A-btl lIiiritila b. 'Alqama
brother of B. Dakr b. \Va'j!; Aus; al-l-,farith; Zayd; Qays; Yazid; ubayh; 403
Khuwaylid; 'Amr; Khiilid; 'Abdullah; Johannes; of these the first three
named above spoke to the apostle. They wac Christians according
to the Byzantine rite, though they differed among themselves in some
points, saying He is God; and He is the son of God; and He is the third
person of the Trinity, which is the doctrine of Christianity. They argile
that he IS God because he used to raise: the dead, and heal the sick, and
declare the unseen; and make clay birds and then breathe into them so
~h~t th.ey flew a\:'a1';2 and all this,was by the command of God Almighty,
We WIll make 111m a slgn to men. 3 They argue that he is the son of God in
that they say he had no known father; and he spoke in the cradle and this
is something that no child of Adam has ever done. They argue that he is
the third of three in that God says; \Vc have done, \Ye have commanded,
\Ve have created and \Ve have decreed, and they say, If He were one he
would have said I have done, I have created, and soon, but He is He and
Jesus and Mary. Concerning all these assertions the Quran came down.w'hen the two divines spoke to him the apostle said to them, 'Submit
yourselves.'! They said, '\Ve have submitted.' He said: 'You have not
submitted, so submit.' They said, 'Nay, but ,ve submitted before you.'
He said, 'You lie. Your assertion that God has a son, your worship of the
cross, and your eating pork hold you back from submission.' They said,
'But who is his father, ~1uhammad?' The apostle was silent and did not
answer them. So God sent dO\vn concerning their words and their incoherence
the beginning of the sura of the Family of 'Imran up to more
than eighty verses, and He said: 'Alif Lam Mim. God there is no God but
He the Living the Ever-existent.'z Thus the sura begins \-\lith the statement
that He transcends what they say, and His oneness in creation and authority,
without associate therein, in refutation of the infidelity they have
in~ented, and their making rivals to Him; and using their O\\'n arguments
against them in reference to their master to shO\v them their error thcre?y.
'God there is no God but He,' no associate is with Him in His authorIty........
Sira RasullAllah, translated by Guillaume, p 270
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/muhammad/Guillaume--Life%20of%20Muhammad.pdfThose christians did believe in the trinity God, Jesus and Mary
Muhammad was not exactly silent ; this was just needed as a background for another revelation from Allah to prove christians wrong about their beliefs.
Topic: Qur'anic studies today