the Jews altered the passages in the earlier scriptures that heralded the coming of the Messiah and of Muhammad—peace be upon them both—as well as the rulings of the Torah and some of its recorded commands; and the Christians likewise changed much of what the Torah and the prophetic books contained, both in narrative and in law, though the Messiah himself had not modified those laws. Regarding whatever Allah abrogated from the Torah through the words of the Messiah, the Messiah must be followed, but whatever was altered after the Messiah—such as declaring the flesh of swine lawful and other things that Allah had forbidden and the Messiah never permitted, abolishing circumcision, praying toward the East (together with adding extra fasting and shifting its time from one season to another), introducing images into churches, venerating the cross, and embracing monasticism—are practices that no prophet ever legislated, neither the Messiah nor anyone else. By adopting them, they contravened the law of Allah with which He sent the prophets, even though Allah never instituted such practices through any prophet.

Thirdly, it is established by necessarily known, uninterrupted mass transmission—acknowledged by supporter and opponent alike—that Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, affirmed that the Qur’an is the speech of Allah, not his own speech, and that he was merely conveying it from Allah. He clearly distinguished between the Qur’an and what he uttered as Sunnah, even though the Sunnah too must be accepted in faith and practice. For Allah sent down to him the Book and the Wisdom and taught his community the Book