Section: The causes of the Christians’ deviation and that of those who resemble them

It should be understood that the deviation of the Christians and other extremist sects—such as the overly-zealous worshippers, certain Shiʿite factions, and the like—goes back to three factors:

1. Ambiguous, equivocal, and problematic phrases attributed to the prophets. They abandoned the clear, unambiguous wording and clung to those doubtful expressions. Whenever they heard a term that could be stretched to support their view, they seized upon it and forced it to fit their doctrine, even though it offers no real proof. As for the explicit statements that refute their position, they either consign them without interpretation or twist their meaning—just as all misguided people do, pursuing what is ambiguous in both rational and scriptural proofs while turning away from what is decisive and clear in either domain.

2. Extraordinary phenomena they imagined to be signs, when in fact they come from the workings of devils. Many idol-worshippers and others have been led astray by such things: demons entering idols and speaking to people, devils informing soothsayers of unseen matters—always mixed with lies—and other manipulations carried out by the devils.

3. Reports transmitted to them that they assumed were true but are in fact false. Apart from these, the Christians and other people of error possess no rational proof whatsoever for their falsehood.