al-Baqara 2:258 — An argument in which the proof is not changed

"Have you not seen the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord? … Abraham said, 'My Lord gives life and gives death.' He said, 'I too give life and give death.' Abraham said, 'God brings the sun from the east; then bring it from the west.' And the one who covered over was struck dumb."

The course of the argument is worth recording.

The first proof: rabbiya'lladhī yuḥyī wa yumīt. The other side's answer meets the proof by shifting the meaning: to say "I do it too" by setting one man free and killing another. The objection, that is, rests not on the proof but on the breadth of the word.

Abraham does not continue the argument, he changes the proof. The new proof chooses what is closed to shifting: the direction in which the sun rises.

I record this as an observation about method: the first proof was not wrong; it carried a place the other side could play in. The second proof leaves no such place.

فَبُهِتَ ٱلَّذِى كَفَرَ — buht: the other party's being struck dumb, finding no word to answer with. The argument ends in a silence; it is not said that he was persuaded.