know that the books now in their hands—once one looks at how they explicate them—contain such divergence and contradiction, both among the various Christian sects and between the Christians and the Jews, that one is forced to conclude with certainty that much of what they contain has been replaced and distorted. The same kind of alteration has overtaken the legal ordinances set forth in those scriptures.

Indeed, the books revolve around two basic pillars: report and command. Faith in them can only be sound by affirming the truth of what they report and by deeming obedience obligatory in the matters they enjoin.

Yet the People of the Book reject much of what those scriptures report, and they do not hold themselves bound to obey many of the rulings and instructions they lay down; each sect among them bears witness against the other in this regard.

The Christians, for their part, recognize seven councils that are famous in their tradition, and in every