The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 49
Fo o T N o T e F r o M PAG e 25 Fo o T N o T e F r o M PAG e 25 49 the notion of idolatry was also reinforced by the notion of wor- shipping Jesus, and the Arabs became more entrenched in crea- ture worship in imitation of the Christians. It should be kept in mind that the nomadic people of Arabia did not know anything about wine, but when Christians arrived there they gifted it to some of the new converts. Then, this evil habit spread among the people like wildfire and five times of drinking were prescribed just like the five times of Prayer. Hence, 1— J a shriyyah is the wine drunk at dawn before sunrise; 2— S ub uh is the wine drunk after sunrise; 3— Ghab u k is the name of the wine drunk at noon and in the afternoon; 4— Q i l is the wine drunk at midday; while 5— Fa h m is the name of wine drunk at night. With its advent, Islam effected a change and replaced these five times of drinking with five Prayers, replaced every evil with virtue and taught the name of God Almighty in place of creature worship. To deny this holy transformation is the work of a most evil-natured individual and not that of a righteous person. Can any other religion present an example of such a great transformation? Certainly not! Now, for the time being, such self-confessional Christian poetry should suf- fice, but if anyone takes issue with this, then hundreds of similar verses shall be presented to them. However, I am sure none will respond on this occasion; for, how can thousands of verses that consist of the admission of guilt in these sins remain hidden? Now, someone should ask Reverend Thakar Das, who in his extreme prejudice, has unjustly spouted nonsense against the need of the Qur’an, and inquire whether he has now been informed about the need for the Qur’an or not? Have we not established that the Holy Qur’an was revealed at a time when all the Christians were rotting away like lepers and other people too had perished