A Gift for the Queen — Page 9
9 and showing heavenly signs in their favour? If God Himself were to deceive us then how could we differentiate right from wrong? This is an important tenet: a false prophet should not achieve the grandeur, acceptance and greatness as that of a truthful one. Prosperity should not result from the plans of liars as it does from the activities of a truthful one. That is why the first sign of the truthful is that perpetual support is with the truthful, and God plants his religion in the hearts of millions, and grants it long life. Therefore, keeping in view the day of our passing away and the day of recompense, we should not malign such a great sage; rather, we should garner true respect and true love for a prophet who carries such signs. This is the first principle which God has taught us. Through this we have become inheritors of a great moral code. The second principle I have been established upon is the refor- mation of the wrong notion of jihad which has gained popularity among some ignorant Muslims. God the Almighty has made me understand that the ways taken as jihad these days are completely against the teachings of the Quran. No doubt, there was an order to take arms in the Holy Quran. It was more reasonable than the wars of Moses, and more acceptable than the wars of Joshua, son of Nun. It was based solely on the ground that those who unjustly raised their sword to slaughter Muslims and spilled blood unjustly and committed extreme cruelties, should also be dispatched by the sword, albeit, this punishment did not carry the severity of the wars of Moses. Rather, the punishment was waived if an Arab sought protection by accepting Islam or if a non-Arab did the same by paying jizyah. This procedure complied with the laws of nature. The punishments of God, which descend on the world in the form of calamities, are for sure deferred through charity,