The verse: “… Come!

The verse: “… Come! We call our sons and your sons… ” Contains the plural noun “ sons ” preceded by “our”[^1] which refers to the Prophet meaning that the Prophet has to invite at least three people from among his sons.

Next comes the phrase “ our women and your women **”,** in which the plural form “ women ”, preceeded by “our” means that the Prophet has to invite all the women of his Household (if the phrase is taken to mean all of them), or at least three of them – which is the smallest number in a plural noun in Arabic. This discussion is intended to see to whom the words “ our sons, our women and our souls ” refer and to examine the aim of mubahalah (contest of the prayer to God).

As for how many or who are the people to whom the Qur’anic verse refers in the words “ our sons ” and “our women ” this will be discussed in a later section*.* The plural noun “souls” preceded by “our”, which refers to the Prophet, means that he has to invite to mubahalah at least three people whom he considers as his soul. Can “our souls” be referred to the Prophet (saws)?

The word “soul” in the phrase “ our souls ” literally means the blessed soul of the Prophet (saws) but when we notice the context, we find that it does not mean so. Let us consider the following indications: The word “souls” is a plural form and a person has only one soul. The statement, “ Then say Come!

We will call **”** makes it incumbent on the Prophet to really issue a call, and the very speaker is never meant by the word “call” when it is used in its real meaning; it would be unreasonable to say that it is incumbent on one to call oneself.

Therefore, those who imagine that in such examples like “فطوعت له نفسه” or “دعوت نفسی”, the word “نفس”, meaning “soul or self”, and the very speaker is concerned, have overlooked the fact that Either the word “soul” is not used in its real meaning which refers to the very person, or the word “call” is used figuratively. For example, in the verse “فطوعت له نفسه قتل اخيه” – “ his soul prompted him to slay his brother ” the real meaning of the word “soul” is man’s inclination.

Likewise, the phrase means I prepared myself to do something, not I invited myself . Thus, the word “دعوت” means something different from “ inviting ”. Since the holy Prophet has already referred to himself in the phrase “ We call ” , there is no need for him to invite himself to mubahalah .