Say ‘O People of the Scripture Jews and Christians do not go to extremes do not overstep the bounds in your religion other than those extremes of truth neither lowering nor elevating Jesus above his proper place and do not follow the whims of a people who went astray formerly on account of their extremism — these were their forefathers — and have led many other people astray and strayed from the even way’ from the path of truth al-sawā’ originally means ‘middle’.