The Holy War — Page 44
44 and incomparability are one. Since no one can say when incompa- rability issued forth from endlessness and where it resides, it cannot separate from endlessness. Thus, you can see from this example that one thing similar to endlessness, exists in its own right, while another similar to incom- parability, is inseparable from endlessness. And look very carefully that in both these attributes there exists a premise which if stated extempore it would run as follows. Although the two examples look alike in one sense, they are also different in another. As we have given the example of two attributes, so these attributes instead of being parts of a thing encompass the whole thing. Similarly, the Being whom we call God, the Father, and He, like endlessness, exists on His own, and those whom we call the Son and the Holy Ghost, they are inseparable from God, the Father. Now, we have shown this distinction among them. We do not say that their essence is divisible. Thus, we cannot be accused of being polytheists, because we believe in God being One, without any associate. We do not make three gods. However we find all three Beings or Persons of the Trinity, equal, each to the other, glo- rified by way of attributes in the scriptures, and they are one in their essence but each in its own right, being inseparable from the other, are consequently three. Fifth— You ask me to prove from the Quran that the fire was, in actual fact, God or that the voice came from the fire, and the voice was heard saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ’ In reply to this, I submit that at the moment we will not discuss the voice that came from the unseen and which conversed with Moses, but that voice said this, ‘Surely, I am your Lord’ [ S u rah Ta H a , Ruk u ‘. 1]. If Your Honour says that this voice did not come from the fire, then I can only say that the style of the utterance of these words does not show that it came from anywhere other than the fire.