Section
The questioner says: “Within your religion we observe the most heinous vices committed by those who are the most knowledgeable and the most versed in your law (in your religion) (1): adultery, sodomy, betrayal, envy, miserliness, treachery, oppression (2), arrogance and self-conceit, scant scrupulousness and shaky certainty, little mercy, chivalry or protective zeal, rampant panic, a mad scramble for worldly gain, and laziness in pursuing good deeds. Such behaviour belies the words proclaimed.”

The reply may be given from several angles:
(First) We say: What responsibility do the noble messengers bear for the sins of their nations and followers? Does that detract in the least from their prophethood or sully the face (3) of their mission?! Has anyone remained free of sin—in all its types and forms—save the messengers, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them?! May one reject their message and brand them liars because some of their followers disobey them?! Is that not the most reprehensible kind of obstinacy (4)?! It is like a sick man whom a sincere physician invites to a means that would grant him perfect health (5), yet he retorts, “If you were truly a physician, so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so (6) would not be ill!” (7) Are the messengers required to heal every patient so that no sickness whatsoever remains in the world?! Is—