Through Force or Faith? — Page 34
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 34 today, and it was in order to win their hearts that Paul declared it to be lawful, even though the Torah had for- bidden it forever and had even forbidden anyone to touch it. Thus Paul is responsible for all the ills that are found in this religion. ( Chashma-e-Masī h ī, R uha n i Khaz a ’in, vol. 20. pp. 374–375) 1 The assertion of the Pope that there is great concordance between Greek thought and the kind of belief in God as based on Bible; the truth about that is that it was not the faith of Jesus. Instead it was an attempt to ingratiate with the Greeks. Those Christians who are honest, they know and admit Who the God of Islam is. Edward Gibbon says: The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or ambigu- ity; and the Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever rises must set, that whatever is born must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish. In the Author of the universe, his rational enthusiasm con- fessed and adored an infinite and eternal being, without form or place, without issue or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by the necessity of his own nature, and deriving from himself all moral and intellectual perfection. … The first principle of reason and revelation 1. This reference text also appears in Fountain of Christianity, edition 2, p. 52, published in 2007. [Publisher]