75

And of the People of the Scripture is he who, if you trust him with a hundredweight, that is, with much money, he will return it to you, on account of his trustworthiness, the like of 'Abd Allāh b. Salām to whom a man entrusted 1200 plates of gold, which he then returned to him; and of them is he who, if you trust him with one dinar, will not return it to you, on account of his treachery; unless you keep standing over him, not leaving him for one minute, for as soon as you leave him, he will deny it, as was the case with Ka'b b. al-Ashraf, to whom a man from Quraysh entrusted a dinar and later denied it. That, refusal to return things, is because they say, 'We have no duty towards, namely, [no possibility of acquiring] sin because of, the Gentiles, the Arabs; for they considered it lawful to be unjust towards any person of a different religion, and they attributed [the source of] this conviction to Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He. Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He, says, They speak falsehood against Allahu ta’ālā, by attributing such things to Him, while they are aware, that they are liars.