The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 46
T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R ON E T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R ON E 46 staunch Christian who held firmly to his faith and would keep the commandments of the church and hang the cross from his neck at all times and was, therefore, known among the people as Dhu s - S al i b [Possessor of the Cross]. Then, it is mentioned on the same page that once Sultan Abdul M a lik bin Marw a n, in whose court he also served, asked him to accept Islam, to which he answered, ‘If you make drinking permissible for me and if I can forego the fasts of Ramadan as well, then I am ready to become a Muslim. ’ Now look, they just mentioned that he was a staunch Christian and was known as Dhu s - S al i b, yet now they write that he was ready to sell the Christian faith for a cup of wine! In short, his biography bears out that he was an alcoholic and he admits in his own verses that he could not abstain from frequenting strange women and he further admits that in those times, the character of Christian men and women was not chaste and a kind of covert adultery was rampant among them. True, he does have the boldness to openly bring to light the debauchery and the immorality of Christians; he calls their churches places of ill repute and does not even hide his own debauchery. Hence, It is mentioned on page 337 of the same book that once, when asked by Abdul M a lik, what he got from drinking wine, he at once read out these two verses: ْمِی عَلَنِی ثُم َّ عَلَنِی ي ِ ُاِذَا مَا نَد ْر ي ِ َّ ھَد ٍ لَھُن َ زُجَاجَات ثَلَث ْل َ مِنِّی كَاَنَّنِی ي َّ ُ جَعَلْت ُ اَجُر ُّ الذ َ اَمِیْر ُ الْمُؤْمِنِیْن َ اَمِیْر عَلَیْك That is, as the cup bearer gave me three bottles of fine wine that pop when opened, I strutted around intoxicated as if I ruled over you, O Am i ral-Mu’min i n! As Muslim leaders never forced anyone to accept Islam, therefore, except being preached to, al-Akh t al was