Section: The Muslims’ balanced middle path in monotheism, worship, and social dealings

Since the People of the Book as a group are more complete—in beneficial knowledge and righteous action—than those who possess no revealed scripture, it is therefore certain that the nation of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is more perfect and more just than both communities of the People of the Book, the Jews and the Christians. All the praiseworthy qualities found in the Torah and the Gospel have been combined for them. Thus, there is no intellectual or practical virtue possessed by the People of the Book except that the nation of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, surpasses them in it.

As for the various sciences: the Muslims are more adept in every field than all other nations—even in disciplines that are neither prophetic nor concerned with the Afterlife, such as medicine, mathematics, and the like. In these subjects too they are more proficient than the two earlier communities, and their written works on them are more complete than the writings of those communities; indeed, their knowledge of and clarity in these sciences outstrip that of the ancients, for whom such studies represented the very limit of their learning. On occasion, the person who is highly skilled in one of these fields may be regarded by the Muslims as an outcast because of hypocrisy or atheism and afforded no real standing among them, yet he still attains, by virtue of the knowledge he possesses