As for their breaking of the covenant, altering the rulings of the Torah, twisting the words from their proper places, consuming usury although they had been forbidden it, accepting bribes, violating the Sabbath until they were turned into apes, killing the prophets without right, denying Jesus son of Mary—the Messenger of Allah—hurling monstrous slanders at him and his mother, striving to kill him, distinguishing themselves above all nations in wickedness and calumny, their ravenous attachment to the world, the hardness of their hearts, their envy, and the abundance of their sorcery (1) — in all this they have pushed wickedness to its furthest extreme.

Yet all of this, and many times more in the way of ignorance and warped reason, is still small compared with what is due from one who rejects Allah’s messengers and openly declares enmity toward Him, His angels, His prophets, and His allies.

What, then, has a person truly come to know if he does not know Allah and His messengers? What reality has he grasped if this reality has eluded him? What knowledge or deed remains for the one who has missed out on knowledge of Allah, on acting so as to please Him, on recognizing the path that leads to Him, and on understanding his state when he finally arrives before Him?

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All the inhabitants of the earth are enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and misguidance (2) except those upon whom the light of prophethood has dawned. As related in the Musnad and elsewhere, in the hadith of ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah created His creation in darkness, then He cast upon them a ray of His light. Whoever received a portion of that light was guided, and whoever missed it went astray. For this reason I say: the Pen has dried in accordance with Allah’s knowledge.” (3)