A Present to Kings — Page 59
( 5 ) it should rightly find mention before trade. ' Now the fact is patent that trade contains an element of usefulness, even if it may not be a source of happiness in the next life, it may at least provide some means of comfort in the present life. Play, however, is of no use either in the present or in the future life. . It was, therefore, necessary for the sake of literary elegance to give it first mention in the passage under reference. . As an illustration we may consider the sentence. *Such and such a person can raise a maund or even two maunds. Here the words "a maund" ought to come before the words "two maunds," and it will be a mistake to say that such and such a person can raise two maunds or even one maund. Similarly in the case under reference if it were said that what was with. God was better than trade, or even play the language would be faulty, because when the comparison is in the matter of superiority, then of the things with which comparisons are made the one to be first named ought to be the one which is of relatively inferior quality and then should come one which is relatively superior. If the comparison should begin with a thing of a relatively superior quality, it will then be a mere redundance to make another comparison with a thing of inferior quality, and that portion of the sentence will be superfluous and useless. In this passage the subject matter was to express the superiority of "the blessings with God. ". It was therefore that play should have come first in the order of mention, because it was a thing of less worth than trade. A reverse order would mar the elegance of the language. . The whole verse therefore goes to prove that in the Book of. God due attention has been paid to the arrangement of words and no transposition of them is possible. . EVIDENCE OF THE HOLY QURAN, THE HADIS AND THE. HOLY COMPANIONS REGARDING THE. DEATH OF JESUS. . My purpose in these two illustrations is to show that it is very dangerous, in order to find one's own meaning in a