Moreover, their forefathers—even the worthiest among them—are described by Allah, exalted is He, as having harmed Moses, and He forbade us to imitate them in this regard when He said: “O you who believe, do not be like those who abused Moses; Allah cleared him of what they alleged, and he was distinguished in Allah’s sight.” (69) [al-Ahzab: 69]

As for their later generations, they became the killers of the prophets: they slew Zechariah, his son John, and many other prophets. On one single day they killed seventy prophets, then opened the marketplace at day’s end as though nothing had happened. (1)

They also gathered to kill and crucify the Messiah, yet Allah protected him, honored him, and did not allow them to disgrace him; He cast his likeness upon another, whom they killed and crucified. They tried repeatedly to kill the Seal of the Prophets as well, but Allah continued to shield him from them.

For people of such character, choosing disbelief over faith is no great matter, for any of the reasons we have already mentioned—one, two, or more.

We have likewise noted how the nation of misguidance, the worshippers of the cross, concur in reviling the Lord of all worlds with the vilest of insults—something that plain reason itself declares patently false. (2) If they fail to see that such speech is an affront to Allah, and that intellect rejects it outright as false and corrupt, it is hardly surprising that their dull minds would revile a human being sent by Allah, deny his prophethood, and obstinately oppose the clear rational evidence for his truthfulness and the soundness of his message. (3)

Even were they to say of him all that they have said, it would not equal a fraction of what they have uttered against the Lord of the heavens and the earth, by which they have become