of a clear and obvious matter they already knew, using obscure wording that misled them. Only someone among the most ignorant and unjust of people would do this. No one would attribute such conduct to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) except a hypocritical heretic or someone so profoundly ignorant that he does not understand the implications of his own words.

The eleventh response is that he said:

“No one is more jealous than Allah. For that reason He has forbidden shameful deeds, both open and secret.”

In another wording:

“Because of Allah’s jealousy, He has forbidden shameful deeds, both open and secret.”

This explicitly affirms both the cause—jealousy—and its effect—prohibition and restraint. It affirms that this effect, namely declaring these deeds unlawful, arose because of His jealousy, which is the cause. Thus, to equate jealousy with declaring things unlawful—that is, prohibition and restraint—is an outright denial of the truth of what the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said. This is, in fact, the position of the Jahmiyyah. Some of them are aware of this and are therefore hypocrites, while others are ignorant and do not realize that they are denying his truthfulness.

The twelfth response is that he said:

“No one loves praise more than Allah. For that reason He praised Himself, and for that reason Allah promised Paradise. No one loves an excuse more than Allah; for that reason He sent the warners