the best of it.” He has thus divided the Word into what is good and what is better, although the Quran is to be followed in its entirety. This is their argument.

The response is as follows:

The answer has three aspects, comprising a counterargument and a resolution.

The first:

This is like His words:

“Follow the best of what has been sent down to you from your Lord.”

And His words:

“We wrote for him on the Tablets an admonition concerning all things and a detailed explanation of all things. So hold firmly to them and command your people to follow the best of them.”

He commanded the believers to follow the best of what was sent down to them from their Lord, and commanded the Children of Israel to uphold the best of the Torah. This is stronger than the verse in question, which merely praises following what is best.

There is no doubt that the Quran contains accounts and commands concerning what is good and what is better. Following a discourse means acting in accordance with what it entails. What it entails includes both what is good and what is better; it is not all of the latter kind, even though the Quran itself is the best of all discourse. A distinction must therefore be drawn between the excellence of a discourse compared with other discourse, and its excellence in relation to what it entails—the things it commands and describes.

The second aspect:

It may be said that He says:

“So give good tidings to My servants, who listen to the Word and follow the best of it. Those are the ones Allah has guided, and those are the people of understanding.”

The Quran contains accounts and commands. Its accounts concern the righteous and those brought near to Allah, as well as the disbelievers and the wicked. There is no doubt that following the example of the first two classes is good