and they esteem the righteous among the Muslims. They possess some measure of Islam, though they differ in this regard. Yet the way followed by most of them, on account of which they are fought, entails abandoning many, or most, of the laws of Islam. First, they make Islam obligatory, but do not fight those who abandon it. Rather, they honour and leave alone anyone who fights for the Mongol state, even if he is a disbeliever and an enemy of Allah and His Messenger. Conversely, they deem it lawful to fight anyone who withdraws from the Mongol state’s authority or rises against it, even if he is among the finest Muslims.

They neither wage jihad against the disbelievers nor require the People of the Book to pay jizya (poll tax) and submit to subjection. Nor do they forbid anyone in their army from worshipping whatever he wishes—the sun, the moon, or anything else. Rather, their conduct indicates that a Muslim holds, in their eyes, a position comparable to that of an upright person, a righteous man, or someone who performs voluntary acts of worship among the Muslims. A disbeliever, in their eyes, is comparable to a sinful Muslim or someone who neglects voluntary acts of worship.

Likewise, most of them do not consider it forbidden to shed Muslims’ blood or seize their property unless their ruler forbids them to do so. That is, they do not undertake to refrain from these things. When he forbids them from these or other acts, they obey him because he is their ruler, not simply out of religious obligation. Most of them do not undertake to fulfil their religious duties, whether prayer, zakat, Hajj, or anything else.

Nor do they undertake to adjudicate their disputes according to Allah’s law. Rather, they judge according to regulations of their own, which sometimes agree with Islam and sometimes contradict it. It was only al-Shīzbarūn who adhered to the laws of Islam; he was the one who publicly established those Islamic observances that became widely known among the people. These people, however, entered Islam without committing themselves to its laws.