they clung to during the Age of Ignorance, and to the very arbiters to whom those who deny the prophets take their disputes—Brahmins, philosophers (who are polytheists), Magians, and some of the Sabians.

Yet referring matters to such authorities only exacerbates the situation and never settles the disagreement, for every faction has its own ṭawāghīt (false deities) to which it wishes to appeal, even though they have been commanded to repudiate them.