Was Heraklius's statement based on what Abu Sufyan said?
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The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : What appeared to me is that, if that is correct regarding him, he relied on what is in the books, because he was a man knowledgeable about the religion of the Christians.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : It is possible to combine both matters, because the true Gospel that has not been distorted explicitly mentions the message of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). A brother of yours who embraced Islam told me; he was the Pope's representative in Africa for calling people to the religion of the Christians. Yes, I was able to go to Jeddah. He was a representative calling to the religion of the Christians, and he had money and everything. But Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) guided him to Islam about a year and six months ago. Allah guided him to Islam and he embraced it. When the disbelievers saw that he had embraced Islam, they stripped him of all his positions and all his titles—Patriarch, I do not know what other titles he had in their religions—but he embraced Islam. Thirty thousand people from Africa, from the Christians, embraced Islam on his hands, Glory be to Allah, because he was a saint among them. When they saw that he had embraced Islam, he told me that there are now copies in the Vatican, original old copies of the Gospel, containing the text regarding the message of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but they hide them and do not display them. They know that if anyone looked at them or took a copy, they would kill him. And this is mentioned in the Qur'an:[Al-A'raf 7:157] The Shaykh Muhammad Rashid Rida (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book Tafsir al-Manar, at this verse, many quotations from their books, all of which affirm the message of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So Heraklius knew that they would embrace Islam, and he presented to his people that he wanted to embrace Islam. When he spoke to them about this, they were greatly averse and they intended to kill him. He said to them, "Hold on. I only said that to test your firmness in your religion. I wanted to see if you are strict in your religion, not wanting anyone to leave it, or if you are soft." In any case, there is no doubt that Heraklius knew this from the Gospel in his hand, and perhaps he combined this with that.
The Shaykh : What appeared to me is that, if that is correct regarding him, he relied on what is in the books, because he was a man knowledgeable about the religion of the Christians.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : It is possible to combine both matters, because the true Gospel that has not been distorted explicitly mentions the message of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). A brother of yours who embraced Islam told me; he was the Pope's representative in Africa for calling people to the religion of the Christians. Yes, I was able to go to Jeddah. He was a representative calling to the religion of the Christians, and he had money and everything. But Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) guided him to Islam about a year and six months ago. Allah guided him to Islam and he embraced it. When the disbelievers saw that he had embraced Islam, they stripped him of all his positions and all his titles—Patriarch, I do not know what other titles he had in their religions—but he embraced Islam. Thirty thousand people from Africa, from the Christians, embraced Islam on his hands, Glory be to Allah, because he was a saint among them. When they saw that he had embraced Islam, he told me that there are now copies in the Vatican, original old copies of the Gospel, containing the text regarding the message of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), but they hide them and do not display them. They know that if anyone looked at them or took a copy, they would kill him. And this is mentioned in the Qur'an: