The Holy War — Page 282
282 permitted to be taken from the Canaanites who were one of the seven nations. See also Joshua 16:10 and Judges 1:35 that proves that the Amorites also paid Jizyah. Then you have once again repeated that the Holy Quran teaches that faith can be kept hidden when there is a state of fear. I have already written that this is not a teaching of the Quran. The Quran has kept included in the category of believers some such people who went through this state considering them to be a lower grade of Muslims. You can understand that all are not of one level of faith and you can- not deny that sometimes the Messiah similarly avoided Jews for fear of stoning and sometimes by way of concealment of the real thing hid the truth. And in Matthew 16:20 it is written, ‘Then charged he his disci- ples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus, the Christ. ’ Now, tell me honestly, is this the action of true believing people, and is this appropriate for those who are sent to this world as Messengers and preachers that they hide themselves? What other example could be more condemning to you than this, provided you think about it? Then, you write that ‘the sun setting in a marsh’ does not qualify among metaphors, whereas ٍنْيَع ٍةَئِمَح actually means ‘black water’, and in this—even now—people witness this scene with their own eyes. And the construction of metaphors is founded upon eyewitness phenom- ena, just as we sometimes refer to the stars as dots and say the sky is blue and that the earth is stationary. Thus, since this is also from these genres, then why is it denied? You suggest that the phrase, ‘the Word became flesh,’ is also a metaphor, but can any person provide proof where in the world is it mentioned that such and such a person came as the fleshly embodiment of the Word? Then, you give a very painstaking explanation of goodness. I have already stated that ‘goodness’—that is to say, ‘kindness’—is in itself not an attribute that can be included in personal characteristics. It can be said that I am overcome with mercy, but you cannot say I am overcome with kindness. However, you enquire that if—without seeing an individual in difficulty—one is treated with kindness, then what would that be called?