Through Force or Faith? — Page 300
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 300 The prayer described in the Sermon on the Mount holds cen- tral place in the Christian world. The prayer is as follows: O Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your king- dom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temp- tation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen! (Matthew 6:9–13). A study of this prayer shows us that it also is imperfect. It does not throw any light on the attributes of God. Materialistic and worldly considerations hold a central place here too, as it teaches to ask for daily bread! To forgive mistakes of others, the term used is ‘debt’. Among the attributes of God, He being the Father, King, Holy, Powerful and Glorious are mentioned, but it is not men- tioned what is the link between them or what is the wisdom in their order. Instead of asking for something meritorious, only ask- ing for safeguarding against a negative thing (that is evil) is taught. When we compare Islam’s teachings with the above men- tioned teachings, we observe an extraordinary difference. S u rah al-Fāti h ah is as follows: ْمِهْيَلَع َو اَل َنْيِّلٓاَّضلاُدُبْعَن َو َكاَّيِا ُنْيِعَتْسَن اَنِدْهِا َطاَرِّصلا َمْيِقَتْسُمْلا َطاَرِص َنْيِذَّلا َتْمَعْنَا ْمِهْيَلَع ِرْيَغ ِبْوُضْغَمْلا ِمْسِب ِهّٰللا ِنٰمْحَّرلا ِمْيِحَّرلا ُدْمَحْلَا ِهّٰلِل ِّبَر َنْيِمَلٰعْلا ِنٰمْحَّرلا ِمْيِحَّرلا ِكِلٰم ِمْوَي ِنْيِّدلا َكاَّيِا In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, The Gracious, the