—just as He had already commanded the Messiah to set aside every innovation the Jews had introduced into the religion—things Allah had never legislated—and to leave aside all that He had abrogated from the law of Moses.

In the same way that the Messiah was ordered to disregard whatever had been altered or abrogated in the Torah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, without that in any way diminishing the honor due to the Torah or to Moses, peace be upon him, so too when the altered and abrogated elements of the Gospel community’s religion are discarded, this does not amount to neglecting the rightful due of the Gospel or of the Messiah. On the contrary, the message brought by Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—includes belief in all the Scriptures and all the messengers, making no distinction between any of them while we submit to Him, as the Exalted said:

“Say: We believe in Allah, in what has been sent down to us, in what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what Moses and Jesus received, and in what the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.” ⦗al-Baqarah 2:136⦘.

The Christians, like the Jews, believed in some and rejected others. Which course befits people of sound reason: that we believe in all of Allah’s Books and His messengers, or that we believe in some and disbelieve in others? And which is more fitting for people of insight: that we worship Allah alone, associating nothing with Him, and serve Him only with the ordinances He has prescribed through the tongue of His Messenger, or that we invent forms of polytheism and novel acts of worship for which Allah has revealed no Scripture and sent no messenger, thereby imitating the idol-worshipping pagans?