, which are imperfect. They said: “He is poor, while we are rich.” They also said: “Allah’s hand is shackled,” and: “He grew tired from creating, so He rested on the Sabbath,” among other such claims.

The Christians, meanwhile, attributed to a created being attributes belonging exclusively to the Creator. They said that he creates and provides, forgives and shows mercy, accepts the repentance of created beings, and rewards and punishes.

The believers have believed in Allah, glorified and exalted is He. He has no peer or rival; none is comparable to Him, and there is nothing like Him. He is the Lord of all worlds and the Creator of everything. All besides Him are His servants, utterly dependent upon Him:

“There is no one in the heavens and earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant.”

“He has enumerated them and counted them precisely.”

“And each of them will come to Him on the Day of Resurrection alone.”

Another example concerns what is lawful and unlawful. Regarding the Jews, Allah the Most High says:

“For wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them good things which had been lawful to them.”

Thus, they do not eat animals with claws, such as camels and ducks, nor the fat covering the stomach and intestines or surrounding the kidneys, nor a young goat in its mother’s milk. These are among the foods, clothing, and other things forbidden to them. It has even been said that three hundred and sixty categories of things were forbidden to them, while two hundred and forty-eight commandments were obligatory upon them. Likewise, stringent restrictions concerning impurities were imposed upon them, to the point that they would neither eat with a menstruating woman nor share a house with her.

The Christians, by contrast, deemed foul things and all forbidden things lawful, and came into contact with every kind of impurity. Yet the Messiah had only said to them:

“And to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you.”