and the gravest calamity is to differ about the very object of worship. Were a people who knew neither a god nor a religion suddenly presented with the Christian faith, they would be obliged to pause and withhold acceptance, for its own adherents have never agreed on any part of it. Their mutual contradictions, and the gulf between their claims and what is actually found in their scriptures, all point to its falsehood.

As for what we say concerning tawḥīd—our affirmation of Allah’s absolute oneness and our denial that He has partners, equals, counterparts, or offspring—this is a truth about which they entertain no doubt, nor does anyone among the People of the Book, the followers of other creeds, those who attribute everything to eternal time, or the worshippers of idols and statues. Every one of them concedes it and ultimately returns to it. Some follow us in defining tawḥīd precisely, while others introduce flawed explanations, saying such things as: “Three return to One,” or, “We worship an idol out of reverence for Allah, so that it may bring us nearer to our Lord and its Lord,” or, “There must be an eternal disposer of affairs; we are bound to acknowledge Him as their Creator and Originator.”

Yet each of them, in his own fashion, affirms our statement and embraces our doctrine in acknowledging that Allah is One with no partner. Thus our creed stands proven beyond any doubt—neither you nor any other nation can object to it,