It is thus known that repentance and seeking forgiveness neither alienate people nor destroy trust. By contrast, claiming to be innocent of anything requiring repentance and forgiveness, [and claiming] to be free (1) of anything that necessitates returning—B (2)—to Allah and seeking refuge (3) in Him—this is what alienates hearts and destroys trust. No such claim is known to have proceeded except from a liar or an ignorant person, whereas the former proceeds (4) from truthful and knowledgeable people. (5)

[Further evidence of this is that no one is known to have impugned the prophethood of any prophet, or undermined trust in him, on account of what the texts indicate that he repented of. Nor have Muslims needed to interpret the texts in a manner amounting to their distortion, as those who do so are wont to do. The Torah contains accounts of this kind, and I know of no instance in which the Children of Israel impugned any prophet because he repented of some matter. Rather, they impugned the prophets by fabricating allegations against them, just as they used to harm Moses, peace be upon him. Moses had killed the Copt before prophethood, and after prophethood he repented of asking to see Allah and of other matters. Yet I know of no one among the Children of Israel who impugned him for anything of this kind.

As for what occurred in Sūrat al-Najm—namely, his saying, “Those are the exalted cranes, and their intercession is indeed to be hoped for”—according to the well-known view among earlier and later scholars that this passed upon his tongue and Allah thereafter abrogated and nullified it (6), it would count among the gravest falsehoods according to the view of