you will surely be associating partners with Allah.” And He, Most High, said:

“Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar.”

He has also declared that whenever anyone turns away from Allah’s religion, Allah will assuredly replace him with someone who upholds His clear religion. He said:

“O you who believe, whoever among you turns away from his religion—Allah will bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him, humble toward the believers and firm toward the disbelievers, striving in Allah’s cause and fearing no blame from anyone. That is Allah’s bounty, which He grants to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.”

For the doctrine of these heretics, expressed in their discourse and the poetry they compose, consists of fabricated speech and contrived verse.

Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, referred to both when, during one of their exchanges, Umar ibn al-Khattāb said to him, “O successor to Allah’s Messenger, win the people over.” He then took hold of his beard and said, “O son of al-Khattāb! A tyrant in the days of ignorance, yet a weakling in Islam? On what basis should I win them over? With fabricated speech? Or contrived verse?”

He meant: “I am not calling them to fabricated speech like the Quran of Musaylima, nor to contrived verse like the poetry of Tulayha al-Asadī.”

These are the two forms with which people of wickedness and blatant falsehood challenge the Quran. He, Most High, said:

“So I swear by what you see and what you do not see: it is indeed the word of a noble messenger. It is not the word of a poet—how little you believe! Nor is it the word of a soothsayer—how little you reflect!”