Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 223
POSTSCRIPT QUESTION (9) 223 Signs and the merits of a faith, but reject the Messenger of God, they will belong to the foremost degree of kufr [disbelief]. Those who do not occupy the same level of understanding and knowledge, but if, in the esti- mation of God, sufficient evidence has been furnished to them, in keep- ing with the level of their understanding, they too will be accountable for their disbelief in the Prophet, albeit to a lesser degree than the disbeliev- ers of the first kind. Anyway, it is not for me to determine the disbelief of each and every individual or whether sufficient evidence was furnished. Rather, it is the prerogative of the One who is All-Knowing. We can say this much that whosoever, in the estimation of God, has been furnished with sufficient evidence and, in the estimation of God, has been assessed to be a disbeliever, shall be culpable. Of course, since the Shariah is based on what is overt, we cannot declare one who rejects the message to be a believer, nor can we say that he is exempt from accountability. Someone who repudiates is indeed called kāfir [disbeliever]; because the word kafir' is opposite to 'mu'min' [believer]. Kufr is of two kinds: (First) the kufr that a person rejects even Islam and does not accept the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as the Messenger of God. (Second) the kufr that a person, for example, does not accept the Promised Messiah, and despite the sufficient evidence of his truth, con- siders him to be an ‘impostor, although belief in him and his truth- fulness has been emphasized by Allah and His Messenger and by the Books of earlier Prophets too and hence, since he repudiates the imper- ative of God and the Messenger, he is a kāfir. On closer examination, the two kinds of kufr are essentially of the same nature. The reason is that if a person, after recognizing the truth, does not accept the injunction of God and the Messenger, then, he, in accordance with the explicit verdict of the Holy Quran and hadith, also does not accept God and His Messenger. Without doubt, anyone against whom the argument vis-à-vis the first or the second kind of kufr has been incontrovertibly established in the estimation of Allah, will be culpable on the Day of Judgment. However, one to whom sufficient