and they have—despite the fact that the Torah and the books of the prophets open (1) with glad tidings of both of them and of their appearance, and despite the numerous announcements concerning Muḥammad ﷺ in particular. These announcements are widespread in their scriptures, describing the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the place and time of his emergence, his call, his book, the qualities of his community, their conduct, and their states, to such an extent that when their scholars actually saw him, they recognized him as clearly as they recognize their own prophets (2). Yet they still rejected his mission ﷺ, repelled it before their people (3), and brushed aside his manifest proof by contriving interpretations drawn from the very phrases that contained those glad tidings (4). By means of such interpretations the affair became confused for their followers and for those who know nothing of the Scripture but wishful fancies, and those same interpretations—akin to the hermeneutics of the Jahmiyyah, the Rāfiḍah, and the Qaramitah—led them to imagine that he was not the promised one. They then set upon those glad tidings, concealing whatever they could conceal; whatever they could not hide, they altered in wording; and whatever wording they were unable to alter, they distorted in meaning through interpretation.

Their counterparts who lay claim to the religion inherited from them these same three tactics (5). The principal heirs in this regard are three factions: the Rāfiḍah, the Jahmiyyah, and the Qaramitah. In dealing with texts that contradict their misguidance, they rely on these very three devices. Allah, Exalted is He, has condemned them for distortion and concealment. Distortion (taḥrīf) is of two kinds: distortion of wording, which is to change it, and distortion of meaning, which is to divert the wording from its