Bounties of the Gracious God — Page 77
Our Beliefs in Brief 77 they broke their ties [with God] and took firm oaths that they will not heed the truth and will not shun darkness, even though prior to this they used to say that the command of the arbiter had preference over inauthentic Hadith. But now, they give prefer- ence to their own conjectural sayings over unqualified verses of the Quran and categorical arguments. The tyrannical belief in the godhood of [ Jesus] has overawed the entire world, and yet these people remained unperturbed by it, as if they were exempt from that which is writ by the hand of fate. With their own eyes have they witnessed a number of their leaders being transferred to the graves, and yet they do not desist from vituperation, imposture and falsehood. It is as if they have been fed the milk of falsehood from their mothers’ breasts or they were born steeped in such ignorance. Do they think I crave limelight, and hence they are jealous of me? By Allah! I like solitude, if only they knew. I was not the one who would go out to the people and thus discard the seclusion of my chamber, but my Lord brought me out of it despite myself not liking it. I was absolutely averse to fame and there was nothing dearer to me than my solitude. So if my Lord has made me come out from the seclusion for the sake of the reformation of the people, how can I be blamed for it? I neither descended from a line of gifted scholars nor was I from the tribe of Ban u al-F at i- mah due to which someone could speculate that by employing this ruse, I desired to regain the status of some of my ancestors. This has been purely ordained by heaven, and unlike those who worship their selfish desire, I did not seek this station for myself. Thereafter, the religious leaders tried their level best to bring down my edifice and disperse my supporters, but in the end, the former were unsuccessful, and Allah strengthened my alliance and large