Section: Refuting Their Claim that They Must Remain Bound to Their Religion after the Mission of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
They say, “This—along with other considerations—compels us to cling to our own religion, not to neglect what we possess, not to abandon our doctrine, and not to follow anyone other than the lord Messiah, the Word of God and His Spirit, together with the disciples he sent to us.”
Our reply is that they base their case on two spurious arguments:
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Their first claim is that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was not sent to them but only to the Arabs. It is plain that invoking this claim is one of the greatest lies and fabrications against Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for he never once said, “I was not sent to the People of the Book,” nor did he ever say, “I was sent only to the Arabs.” On the contrary, the mutawātir texts transmitted from him, along with his actions, make it clear that he was sent to all the inhabitants of the earth, whether illiterate or possessors of scripture.
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Their second argument is their assertion that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—praised the Christians’ religion after it had been altered and abrogated. This is an even greater falsehood against him than the first. How could he praise them while he declares them disbelievers in several passages of his Book, commands striving against them and fighting them, censures most severely those who shrink from that struggle, describes as hypocrites and unbelievers anyone who does not recognise obedience to him in fighting them, and mentions that he