The Honour of Prophets — Page 69
69 ceeded to abolish it. It ought to be realised that to prove the sinlessness of the Messiah son of Mary in light of the Gospels, is as difficult as proving the health of a consumptive who has been reduced to a mere skeleton and suffers from diarrhoea. Was it not essential that first of all the Christians ought to have proved the sinlessness of the Messiah before criticising others? Upon seeing the word istighfar in the Quran , is it honest on their part to rashly assert that this presupposes sinfulness, and turn a blind eye to the statement of the Gospel: “I am not good”? Then, besides all of the above, we also see that one can be an intercessor in the Hereafter only if he has shown some example of intercession in this world. In view of this criterion, when we look at Moses, he proves to be an intercessor, for he often averted imminent chastisement with his prayer as is testified to by the Torah. Similarly, when we look at Muhammad, the Chosen One, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his being an intercessor appears to be a resplendently self evident truth. For it was by the influence of this very intercession that his humble companions were raised to sit on thrones. Moreover, it was indeed as a result of his intercession that people, who were brought up in idolatry and polytheism, became such believers in the