are disbelievers from the time Jesus was sent to them and they rejected him. The same holds for the Sabeans: once a messenger was sent to them and they denied him, they too became disbelievers. If, then, the verse were praising the religion you now follow after the mission of Muhammad, it would likewise be praising the religion of the Jews—and that is false in the eyes of both you and the Muslims. Conversely, if the verse contains no commendation of Judaism after its revelation was abrogated and altered, it contains no commendation of Christianity after abrogation and alteration either. The same answer applies to any Jew who might cite the verse to validate his own religion.

Further, Christians themselves declare the Jews to be unbelievers; so if the Christian religion is true, the Jews must indeed be unbelievers, and if it is false, then Christianity itself is invalid. One of the two religions must therefore be false, making it impossible for the verse to be praising them both, even though it mentions them on equal footing.

It is thus evident that the verse praises neither of them after abrogation and alteration. Its real meaning is that those who believe in Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—together with the Jews who truly followed Moses, peace be upon him, and remained on his law before it was abrogated and distorted, and the Christians who truly followed Jesus, peace be upon him, and remained on his dispensation before it was abrogated and distorted