the truthfulness of the two great messengers and the truth of the two noble Scriptures.

We said:

Had this contradicted what reason clearly establishes, two men such as these—who, together with others like them, possess the most perfect intellects of all people—would not have agreed upon it without their believing followers finding it problematic or their disbelieving enemies countering it with something that contradicts it.

They both say:

Muhammad’s acceptance of these statements from the People of the Scripture, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, without exposing any falsehood in them, is evidence that these are not among the lies they fabricated and attributed to Moses. This is also known from ordinary experience, for such statements are exceedingly numerous in the Torah. A vast and numerous community, spread throughout the East and West, has no interest in attributing lies to someone whom it holds in the highest reverence when those lies would discredit him and expose the unsoundness of his statements. They do, however, have an interest in fabricating lies through which they sustain their authority, preserve their religious law, and disparage the message brought by anyone who abrogates any part of it—just as they have an interest in disparaging Jesus son of Mary and Muhammad, may Allah bless them both and grant them peace.

Thus, if they say things that amount to disparaging Jesus and Muhammad, it is possible for them to collude in lying about them. But if they say things that amount to disparaging Moses, then, in the ordinary course of events, it is impossible for them to collude in this while knowing that it discredits Moses, just as it is impossible for Christians to collude in something they know discredits the Messiah.