The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 84
T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO 84 this statement is not like the confused and baseless accounts of the Gospel. Rather, it is substantiated by authentic a ha d i th, historical evidence, and the admission of the opponents. For instance, Mr. Davenport has also mentioned this episode in his book. On the other hand, the respect of the Messiah in the estima- tion of the kings of his time is not hidden from you. Those pages may still be present in the Gospel which narrate that Herod sent up the Messiah to Pilate like a criminal and he was kept in the royal detention for a time. His ‘Divinity’ did not help him at all. No king said that he would be honoured to stay in his service and wash his feet. Instead, Pilate handed him [ Jesus] over to the Jews. Was this the ‘Godhead’? It is a strange comparison! Two persons faced comparable circumstances but they are proven totally distinct from one another due to their respective outcome. In the case of one person, an arrogant despot is roused by the instigation of Satan to arrest him, but is finally overtaken by the curse of God and gets assassinated in abject humiliation by his own son, whereas the other person—who, in contravention to his real claims, has been raised to the heavens by those given to extreme exaggeration—actually gets arrested, indicted, and trans- ported in a dishevelled state from one town to another in the custody of cruel centurions. Alas! This age of enlightenment and such absurd beliefs! Shame! Shame! Shame! Should you inquire where it is recorded that the Byzantine Emperor expressed his yearning that if he had been able to reach His Holiness [the Holy Prophet], peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, he would have busied himself by washing his feet like a humble servant, I quote the following reply from S a hih