“A Book We have revealed to you so that you may bring people out of darkness into light, by their Lord’s permission, to the path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy.”
[Ibrāhīm: 1]

And He, Most High, says:

“Indeed, We have sent you as a witness, a bearer of good news and a warner * and as one who calls to Allah by His permission, and as an illuminating lamp.”
[Al-Ahzāb: 45–46]

And He, Most High, says:

“And indeed, you guide to a straight path * the path of Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth. Surely, to Allah all matters return.”
[Al-Shūrā: 52–53]

Thus these people have treated striving to corrupt Allah’s way as striving in Allah’s cause; efforts to deny the truthfulness of Allah’s messengers as efforts to affirm their truthfulness; seeking to extinguish Allah’s light as seeking to make His light manifest; eagerness to ensure that His word is not believed, His testimony is not accepted, or His guidance conveys nothing, as striving to make Allah’s word supreme; and going to great lengths in pursuing the way of those who associate partners with Allah and espouse negation as going to great lengths in pursuing the way of those who affirm His oneness and follow the straight path. They have thus inverted the truth, corrupted the paths, and led people astray.

These implications, others like them, and still graver ones are evident to anyone who understands what necessarily follows from the statements of these proponents of distortion and negation. Yet much of what they say has confused those who recognize neither the truth nor its opposite, leaving them bewildered. Indeed, you will find many who possess learning and understanding, devotion and asceticism, and good intentions, and who have attained a considerable share of knowledge and religious commitment, yet do not wish to separate themselves from those who believe in Allah and the Last Day. They hear the words of Allah, the words of His Messenger, and those of the people of knowledge and faith,