had Fāṭimah, the daughter of Muhammad, stolen, I would have cut off her hand.’

Thus, within his sacred law—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—there is a gentleness, forbearance, pardon, and nobility of character surpassing what is found in the Gospel, while at the same time it contains a firmness, a call to struggle, and the enforcement of the penal limits against unbelievers and hypocrites greater than what is laid down in the Torah. Such balance represents the height of perfection.

For this reason it has been said:
‘Moses was sent with majesty,
Jesus was sent with beauty,
Muhammad was sent with perfection.’

Fifth Point
Allah’s favors upon His servants consist in benefiting them and doing good to them, and these favors are of two kinds:

1. That He repels from them what would harm them and removes their need and poverty—such as the provision without which they would perish of hunger; the victory without which their enemy would have destroyed them; and the guidance without which they would have strayed in a way that would harm them in the Hereafter. This kind of blessing is indispensable; if they are deprived of it they inevitably suffer harm, whether in this world, the next, or in both. For this reason, in Sūrah al-Naḥl, which is