and this constitutes disbelief by the consensus of the adherents of all faiths, as is necessarily known in the religion of Islam.

If, however, the counterargument to which he gives precedence is established for him, he disbelieves the Messenger. The latter falls into disbelief involving compound ignorance, while the former falls into disbelief involving simple ignorance.

Both are encompassed by Allah’s words:

“And on the Day the wrongdoer will bite his hands, saying, ‘Oh, I wish I had taken a path with the Messenger! * Woe to me! I wish I had not taken that person as a close friend! * He led me away from the reminder after it had come to me.’ And Satan ever abandons man. * And the Messenger will say, ‘My Lord, my people have treated this Quran as something to be abandoned.’ * Thus We have made for every prophet an enemy from among the criminals. But sufficient is your Lord as a guide and helper.”

[al-Furqān: 27–31]

Allah also says:

“Thus We have made for every prophet an enemy—devils from among mankind and jinn—who inspire one another with embellished speech to deceive. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done so. So leave them and what they fabricate. * And so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter may incline towards it, be pleased with it, and commit whatever they commit.”

[al-Anʿām: 112-113]

And there are other passages like these.

Thus, this corrupt principle necessarily entails heresy and deviation concerning Allah’s signs and names. Whoever follows it through consistently is led by it to disbelief, hypocrisy, and deviation. Whoever does not follow it through consistently contradicts himself and departs from sound reason, exposing the inconsistency and corruption of his position.

It was through this avenue that the heretics and Qarmatian esotericists infiltrated every faction among