what the Messenger brought from Allah—neither his reports nor his commands—and that they are firmly intent on undermining his call, corrupting his religion, and killing his close followers and the followers of his family; and that their hostility towards Islam—indeed, towards all religions—is greater than that of the Jews and Christians.

For the Jews and Christians acknowledge the fundamental teachings brought by the messengers, such as affirming the Creator, the messengers, the revealed laws, and the Last Day. They nevertheless reject some of the scriptures and messengers, as Allah, glorified be He, says:

“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and wish to make a distinction between Allah and His messengers, saying, ‘We believe in some and disbelieve in others,’ and wish to adopt a way in between—”

“Those are truly the disbelievers, and We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment.”

As for these Qarmatians, inwardly they disbelieve in all the scriptures and messengers. They hide this and conceal it from everyone except those they trust. They do not proclaim it as the People of the Book proclaim their religion, because, were they to disclose it, the vast majority of people on earth, Muslims and others alike, would recoil from them. They distinguish their own doctrine from that of the general public. Indeed, even those Rāfidīs who are not covert unbelievers distinguish their doctrine from that of the general public and advocate concealing their beliefs and practising dissimulation. A person among the Rāfidīs whose lineage is genuine may not be inwardly Muslim, nor be a covert unbeliever, but may instead be an ignorant innovator.

If these people, despite their genuine lineage and their Islam, conceal the innovations and desires they follow, while the majority of people oppose them, then what of the esoteric Qarmatians, whom the adherents of all religions—Muslims, Jews, and Christians—declare to be unbelievers?