—exalted is He—by means of anything that has no basis in reality. Yet the hypocrites may imagine that the miracles reported of the Messiah and others are of the same kind as that manufactured fire.

The same applies to their tricks involving the suspension of the cross, the weeping of statues fashioned in the likeness of the Messiah, his mother, and others, and similar things. Every rational person knows that all this is fabricated falsehood, and that all Allah’s prophets and righteous servants are innocent of every deception, falsehood, and fabrication, just as they are innocent of the sorcery of Pharaoh’s magicians.

Furthermore, these people turned to the religious law by which they worship Allah and contradicted their Jewish predecessors, although they enjoin adherence to the Torah except where the Messiah abrogated it. The former fell short in their treatment of the prophets, even killing them; the latter went to extremes concerning them, even worshipping them and their statues.

The former said:
“It is not fitting for Allah to change and revoke what He has commanded, whether at another time or through another prophet.”

The latter said:
“Rather, rabbis and priests may change whatever they wish and forbid whatever they see fit. If someone commits a sin, they impose upon him whatever acts of worship they see fit and forgive him.”

Some among them claim to breathe something of the Holy Spirit into a woman, making incense an offering.

The former said:
“He has forbidden us many things.”

The latter said:
“Everything from a gnat to an elephant is lawful: eat whatever you wish and leave whatever you wish.”

The former said:
“Impurities are a grave matter: one must not even sit or eat with a menstruating woman.”

The latter say:
“Nothing on you is impure.”

Nor do they prescribe circumcision or ritual bathing after