than they are; or that they did not explain the truth, or obscured it; or that prophethood is an emanation flowing into souls from the Active Intellect, akin to what a sleeper sees in a dream. Nor do they acknowledge exalted angels, jinn, and the like. These people acknowledge some attributes of the prophets but not others, and some of what they were given but not the rest. They do not acknowledge everything the prophets were given.

An individual among them may be worse than those Jews and Christians who acknowledged all the attributes of prophethood but denied some of the prophets. For what these latter acknowledge of what the prophets brought is greater in significance and extent: they acknowledge that Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days; they acknowledge the coming of the Resurrection; they acknowledge that He alone must be worshipped, without any partner; and they acknowledge the revealed laws upon which the prophets agreed. The former, however, deny all this and acknowledge only part of the law of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Thus, the Jews and Christians are less disbelieving than the heretical esotericists, adherents of philosophy, and their like. Yet any Jews or Christians who have joined these people combine both kinds of disbelief, since they believe neither in all the prophets’ attributes nor in every prophet individually.

Such people are frequently found in lands ruled by disbelievers, just as people of both kinds are also found among those who profess Islam. When living under the rule of Muslims and the People of the Book, they were hypocrites, with hypocrisy proportionate to what they harbored