his whole being to Allah and is a doer of good will have his reward with his Lord; no fear shall fall upon them, nor shall they grieve. (112)

The Jews say, “The Christians stand on nothing,” and the Christians say, “The Jews stand on nothing,” although they both recite the Scripture. Those who possess no knowledge utter the same words. Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ. (1)

And His—exalted is He—statement:

“The Jews and the Christians say, ‘We are the children of Allah and His beloved ones.’ Say: ‘Then why does He punish you for your sins? Rather, you are human beings from among those He has created. He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever lies between them, and to Him is the final return.’” (2)

Second: He claims on their behalf that they followed transmission (al-samʿ) and the revealed law, yet he himself states, in the very principles by which they regard themselves as the people of truth, that no divine attribute is established by transmission; rather, His attributes are established (3) solely through pure reason. Among them are those who affirm what is stated in the Quran by rational proof, and others who affirm it by transmitted proof, and he refutes both groups. What manner of adherence to revelation and the Sharia is this if not one of Allah’s attributes is affirmed through the Sharia? With respect to what they affirm or deny of the attributes, revelation is, for them, as good as non-existent. Their own imams used to affirm the attributes by both revelation and reason, or by revelation with reason serving as confirmation, but he diverged from them (4) in that. So where is their alleged commitment to transmission and sacred law when they have dismissed it from judging, from being used as evidence, and from serving as proof?

Third: He says, “Their denunciation is severe toward anyone associated with the denial of transmitted reports and the widely circulated traditions.” One replies: If those reports do not yield confirmation of their meanings, what denial could be more extreme than that? You yourself have acknowledged their disregard for the reports and have uttered about them fabrications that we shall soon mention