Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 61
27 December 1907 61 path. ’ This alludes to the Christians who were taught by God Almighty through the Injil [Gospel] to believe in God to be One without any partner. But they abandoned this teaching and took the son of a woman to be God. Comparison between the Jews and Christians One should not think that ْ مَغْضُوْب ِ عَلَیْـھِم ْ مَغْضُوْب ِ عَلَیْـھِم is a rather harsh word and یْن ِّ ل یْن ِّ ل ٓ ضَا ٓ ضَا [ Zallin —those who have gone astray] is mild. It is not mild. The issue is that the sin of the Jews was lesser. They adhered to the Torah and followed its commandments. Though they had surpassed in mischief and insolence, they were vehe- mently averse to taking anyone to be God or the Son of God. 1 They have been mentioned in S u rah al-F a ti h ah first, not because their sins were greater, but because they were punished in this very world. Its example is that of a revenue officer who levies a fine only on those whose offence is not beyond his jurisdiction. If the offence is beyond his jurisdiction, he refers the offender to the relevant authority. For instance, suppose he can fine up to a maximum of 50 or 60 rupees for the most grievous offence, but the offender deserves greater penalty. He would refer his case to the higher authority by acknowledging that the pen- alty is beyond his authority, and therefore, he could not sen- tence him at that time. In the same way, the wickedness and 1. From Badr: I inquired from a Jew concerning his religion. He replied that their belief concerning God was the same as mentioned in the Quran, and that they had not taken any human being to be God even to that day. In this respect, they are better than the یْن ِّ ضَآل یْن ِّ ضَآل albeit they have excelled the یْن ِّ ضَآل یْن ِّ ضَآل in mischief and wickedness. Therefore, they are mentioned first because they were punished in this world ( Badr, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 7, dated 9 January 1908).