For the guidance and religion of truth they possess are greater than what the Jews and Christians possess, and they received this only from their Prophet.

Every rational person among the Jews and Christians acknowledges this much: they acknowledge that the religion of the Muslims is true, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and that whoever among them obeys him will enter Paradise. Indeed, they acknowledge that Islam is better than their own religion. The philosophers likewise unanimously agree on this, as Ibn Sīnā and others have stated: “The philosophers of the world agree that no religious law greater than this can come to the world.”

Yet those who do not follow him reassure themselves that they are not obliged to follow him, arguing that he is a messenger to the unlettered Arabs, not to the People of the Book: “If his religion is true, ours is also true, and there are various paths to Allah Most High.” They liken this to the legal schools of the imams: although one school may be preferred over another, the followers of the other schools are neither disbelievers nor People of the Book.

This is the specious argument that leads astray those who consider themselves clever among the People of the Book, the philosophizers, and others like them. Its falsity is evident. For just as it is known with indisputable certainty through mass transmission that he called the polytheists to faith, it is known with equal certainty that he called the People of the Book to believe in him, and that he fought the People of the Book just as he fought the polytheists. He fought Banū Qaynuqā‘, Banū al-Nadīr, Qurayzah, and the people of Khaybar—all of whom were Jews—and took their children and women captive and their wealth as spoils. He also campaigned against the Christians in the year of Tabūk, both in person and through his military detachments; indeed, among those killed fighting them was Zayd ibn Muhammad