the natural disposition Allah has instilled in mankind. There is no changing Allah’s creation. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know. Turn to Him in repentance, fear Him, establish prayer, and do not be among the polytheists—those who divided their religion and became sects, each faction rejoicing in what it has.”

Concerning the Christian factions, He said:

“But the factions differed among themselves. So woe to those who disbelieve when they witness a tremendous Day!”

And the subsequent verses.

As for the view that the pronoun in His words, “Those believe in it,” refers to the people of truth, identified as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad: if what is meant is those who believed in the two Scriptures before the Quran was revealed, they have not previously been mentioned, and the pronoun in “in it” is singular. Moreover, someone who believed in the Book of Moses but not in the Gospel, after the latter had been revealed and the proof had been established against him through it, would not be a believer.

Abū al-Faraj reported these two views without naming their proponents. Al-Baghawī and others mentioned no disagreement that those intended are the believers in Muhammad. They did, however, mention the view that those intended are the People of the Book who believed in him, and this is plausible. Perhaps this is what those whose view Abū al-Faraj reported meant; otherwise, their statement has no basis.

It is surprising that Abū al-Faraj subsequently mentioned four views concerning the factions:

“The first” is that they comprise all religious communities. This was the view of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr.