in Allah without associating others with Him.” Some of the early generations said:

“You ask them who created the heavens and the earth, and they say, ‘Allah,’ yet they worship others besides Him.”

Whoever acknowledges divine decree and predestination but not the commands and prohibitions prescribed by Allah is greater in disbelief than the Jews and Christians. For they acknowledge the angels and the messengers who brought those commands and prohibitions, but they believe in some and disbelieve in others. As Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and wish to distinguish between Allah and His messengers, saying, ‘We believe in some and disbelieve in others,’ and wish to adopt a way in between—it is they who are truly the disbelievers.”

As for someone who perceives the “reality of the created order” and Allah’s sole lordship over all creation, acknowledges that all His servants are subject to divine decree and predestination, and follows this reality as his path, making no distinction between the believers and the God-fearing who obey Allah’s command, with which He sent His messengers, and the disbelievers and the wicked who disobey Allah and His Messenger—such people are greater in disbelief than the Jews and Christians.

Some people, however, have glimpsed the distinction in certain matters but not in others. A person may distinguish between the believer and the disbeliever but not between the righteous and the wicked, or distinguish between some righteous people and some wicked people but not between others, following his own assumptions and desires. His faith is deficient to the extent that he treats the righteous and the wicked alike, while he possesses faith in the religion of Allah Most High—which makes this distinction—to the extent that he distinguishes between His allies and His enemies.