contradicted what he had actually been sent with; they split into numerous sects and declared one another unbelievers. Then, when Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent, they rejected him, and thus became unbelievers for two reasons: for altering the meanings and rulings of the first Scripture and for denying the second Scripture.

As the Muslim scholars state: their religion has been altered and abrogated. Yet a small number of Christians at the time of Muhammad’s mission—peace and blessings be upon him—were still clinging to the Messiah’s religion, just as those who had not changed any part of it were upon the truth. This is like the case of a person who, at the advent of the Messiah, was following the law of the Torah: he too was on the truth, along with the rest of those who followed Moses. Once the Messiah was sent, however, everyone who failed to believe in him became an unbeliever; and likewise, once Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent, everyone who does not believe in him is an unbeliever.

The point to be made here is to clarify what Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent with, namely the universality of his mission. He himself informed us that Allah, exalted is He, had sent him to the People of the Scripture and to others besides them; he himself, peace and blessings be upon him, invited the People of the Scripture, fought them, and commanded that they be fought.

Thus, anyone among the People of the Scripture—Jew or Christian—who, after all this, claims that “he was not sent to us,” meaning that he never said he had been commissioned to us, is stubbornly denying what is self-evident and is fabricating against the Messenger a blatant lie known to both scholar and layman alike.

Such a denial is akin to denying that he brought the Quran, or that he instituted the five daily prayers, the fast of Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to the Sacred House. Indeed, to deny Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—and the mass-transmitted reports from him is graver than the denial committed by the followers of the disciples