upon his unaltered religion before Muhammad was sent, or who remained upon it until Muhammad was sent and then believed in him; such people are believers, Muslims, and rightly guided. The same applies to anyone who held fast to the unaltered religion of Moses until the Messiah was sent and then believed in him; they too are believers, Muslims, and rightly guided. We have already explained that Muslims constitute a just, balanced community, inclining neither toward excess nor toward negligence.

As for the Jews and the Christians, they stand at opposite extremes: one party veers in one direction and the other in the direction directly opposed to it, exactly as we earlier described their opposition in matters of textual transmission. The same contrast appears in what they declare forbidden and permissible, and in their judgments of purity and impurity. Wholesome things were made unlawful for the Jews, and they go to great lengths in avoiding defilement.