He also said, commenting on His words:

“Say, ‘Was it Allah, His signs, and His Messenger that you were mocking?’”

This indicates that mocking Allah is disbelief and that mocking the Messenger is disbelief. The reasoning is that mocking Allah alone is necessarily disbelief, so mentioning His signs and His Messenger was not a condition for this ruling. Thus, mocking the Messenger is itself disbelief; otherwise, mentioning him would serve no purpose. The same applies to His signs.

Moreover, mocking these things is inseparably connected. Those who are astray make light of worshipping Allah alone, while holding supplication to others among the dead in great esteem. When commanded to worship Allah alone and forbidden to associate partners with Him, they make light of it, as the Most High says:

“When they see you, they do nothing but ridicule you”—and the rest of the verse.

They mocked the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when he forbade them to associate partners with Allah. The polytheists have always reviled the prophets and accused them of foolishness, misguidance, and madness whenever they called them to worship Allah alone, because of the immense polytheism within their souls. Likewise, you find that those who resemble them ridicule anyone they see calling people to worship Allah alone, because of their own polytheism. Allah Most High says:

“And among the people