Imam Ali (peace be upon him): A heretic came to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and said, "Were it not for this discrepancy in the verses of your Qur'an, I would certainly have entered your religion." The Imam said, "Which verse is that? ... Also the Qur'an has given preference to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) over all the prophets (peace be upon them), yet more than those praises it has addressed him with harshness, injury and reproach, and has spoken to him with such reprimand and blame as it has addressed no other prophet with — such as the verses: 'But if Allah had willed, He would have gathered them [by force] upon guidance. [Yet what benefit is compelled guidance?] So never be of the ignorant.' (Al-An'am/35). And: 'And had We not made you firm-footed [and, through the station of infallibility, kept you safe from deviation], you were near to inclining to them a little. Then We would have made you taste double [the punishment of the polytheists] in this life and double [their punishment] after death, and then you would not have found for yourself any helper against Us.' (Al-Isra/74–75). And: 'And you were concealing in your heart what Allah was to disclose, and you feared the people while Allah has a greater right that you should fear Him.' (Al-Ahzab/37). And in the verses: 'And I do not know what will be done with me or with you.' (Al-Ahqaf/9). And: 'We have not neglected anything in this Book.' (Al-An'am/38). And: 'And everything We have enumerated in a clear Imam.' (Ya-Sin/12). If everything is enumerated and counted in the Imam (peace be upon him), who is the successor of the Prophet, then the Prophet is more deserving that he be far from the attribute in which He said: 'And I do not know what will be done with me or with you.' (Al-Ahqaf/9). In sum, these are all differing attributes, contradictory states and confusing matters. So if the Messenger and the Book are true, I have fallen into destruction because of my doubt in these matters; and if they are both false, then there is no harm or fear." Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said, "As for the answer to those places in the Qur'an which contain unsuitable addresses to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — such as belittling, hurting and blaming him — despite Allah having given that noble one preference over the other prophets (peace be upon them) in the Qur'an: the Lord the Exalted has appointed for every prophet an enemy from the polytheists, as He has said in the Qur'an, and since the rank of our Prophet before Allah was higher than that of all the prophets (peace be upon them), for that very reason the pain and tribulation of that noble Messenger from the wretched and hypocritical enemies became great. They spared no injury to repel his prophethood and to reject him, and they contradicted every affirmation and confirmation of him. All the unbelief, obstinacy, hypocrisy and heresy joined hands, and with all their effort they strove to invalidate his call, to change his religion and to oppose his sunnah, and with all their cunning and deceit they attached the ugliest titles to the friendship of his successor, and they created an atmosphere of terror, fear, aversion and incitement of enmity towards him. And they intended to change the Qur'an and to drop from it the mentions of the virtues of the virtuous and the unbelief of the group of unbelievers, oppressors, unjust and polytheists. And Allah became aware of this act of theirs and said: 'إِنَّ الَّذِینَ یُلْحِدُونَ فِی آیاتِنا لا یَخْفَوْنَ عَلَیْنا [Indeed, those who distort Our verses are not hidden from Us!]' (Fussilat/40). And: یُرِیدُونَ أَنْ یُبَدِّلُوا کَلامَ اللهِ [They desire to change the word of Allah]. And after the passing of the Prophet, they brought forward the Qur'an in complete form, containing ta'wil (interpretation) and tanzil (revelation), the muhkam (clear) and the mutashabih (allegorical), the nasikh (abrogating) and the mansukh (abrogated), without any missing letter — neither an alif nor a lam. But when they came upon what Allah had made clear of the names of the people of truth and the people of falsehood, and realised that if that were disclosed their schemes would come to nothing, they said: 'What is with us is sufficient, and we have no need of it.'"