[Section: A Rebuttal to the Christians Who Cite the Verse in Sūrah al-Ḥadīd as Praise for Monasticism]

As for the words of the Exalted:

“Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that people might uphold justice. And We sent down iron, in which is fierce might and benefits for humanity, and so that Allah may know who will help Him and His messengers unseen. Surely Allah is Powerful, Exalted in Might” (al-Ḥadīd 25) (25)

“And We certainly sent Noah and Abraham, and We placed prophethood and the Book among their descendants. Some of them are rightly guided, though many of them are defiantly disobedient” (al-Ḥadīd 26) (26)

—all of this is true exactly as the Exalted has stated. Yet there is in it no praise for monasticism, nor for those who altered the religion of the Messiah. The praise is only for those who followed him, because of the mercy and compassion Allah placed in their hearts, as He says:

“And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and mercy” (al-Ḥadīd 27).

Then He says:

“But monasticism—they invented it; We did not prescribe it for them” (al-Ḥadīd 27),

meaning: they contrived monasticism, which We never ordained for them. This monasticism was neither legislated nor made lawful by Allah; rather, He explicitly denied having legislated it—just as He denied the legitimacy of what the idolaters had innovated when He said:

“Allah has never ordained a baḥīrah, nor a sāʾibah, nor a waṣīlah, nor a ḥām” (al-Māʾidah 103).