to this verse, since He says at its end, ‘And to Allah all matters are returned’ (210) [al-Baqarah 210]?”

These are his words. Does not anyone who reflects on this statement know beyond doubt that it is among the gravest fabrications against Allah and His Book, since he has turned His address to the believers into an address to the Jews? Yet Allah, glorified is He, consistently distinguishes between these two forms of address in His Book, saying to the latter, “O Children of Israel” or “O People of the Book,” and to the former, “O you who believe.” His address to the Children of Israel contains lessons for the believers, for the entire Quran is guidance for the believers. But if an explicit address to the believers is made into an address exclusively to the Jews, is this not among the gravest distortions of the Quran?

After this verse, He says:

“Ask the Children of Israel how many clear signs We have given them.” [al-Baqarah 211]

Why, then, did He call them the Children of Israel? Rather, He commanded the believers to enter wholly into submission—that is, into all of Islam, not some of it to the exclusion of the rest—and to