by any human being.

The Jews claim that Allah would never abrogate anything He Himself has legislated, holding such abrogation to be as impossible as His doing something that lies outside His power or that contradicts knowledge and wisdom.

The Christians, on the other hand, allow their leading clergy to repeal the Law of Allah that He sent with His messengers. They declare lawful what He has forbidden—permitting pork, for example, and other impure things, indeed, they prohibited nothing at all—and they forbid what He has permitted, as in the monasticism of their own invention, wherein they prohibit many wholesome things that Allah has made lawful. They also discard what He has made obligatory, abandoning circumcision and other duties, and abolishing the various forms of purification, such as the full ritual bath and the removal of impurity. Conversely, they impose as obligatory rules and regulations that neither Allah nor His prophets ever required.

The Muslims, however, attribute to the Lord only the attributes of perfection that are His due, declaring Him far above any deficiency or any peer. They describe Him with what He has described Himself and what His messengers have described Him—without distortion or denial, without inquiring into how, and without likening Him to His creation—together with