The Holy War — Page 233
Proceedings—Debate 2 June 1893 233 from one place and impose it upon another without considering its proper context—if this is not bigoted, then what is? If this is what you believe to be a valid objection, then we can pre- pare and present a veritable hoard of these types of verses duly listed from your Torah and Gospels, but I absolutely detest these worth- less and absurd discussions. There is no doubt whatsoever that the words and meanings of the Torah, Gospels, and the Holy Quran com- pletely agree on this issue without any differences, yet to argue in the presence of explicit agreement is shameful wrangling. Notice that these are the words found in the Torah: ‘I have hardened the heart of Pharaoh. ’ Now you have excised these words and fabricated new words, stating this instead: ‘I did not harden it, but I let him become wicked. ’ Yet even then, the result is still the same. If in the presence of someone a child is sitting near a well and is about to fall in it, and that person did not save the child even though he could have saved the child, then is he not at fault? In any event, when you fixate upon semantics, is it not our right to criticize as well? If objections can be made against some words of the Quran, then similar words are also found in the Torah. In particu- lar, the reference of Proverbs is worthy of your attention, wherein it is clearly written: ‘I have made the wicked for the day of evil. ’ Now you had it written that God Almighty says, ‘I have created the wicked people for Myself. ’ Lo and behold! Where it was, ‘for a day of evil’, there is, ‘for Me’. If this is not deliberate distortion, then what is it? Then you decided to deceive people by pointlessly arguing on the Mastery of God Almighty. May it be known to you that although God Almighty is Holy, He does not hold anyone accountable without revealing His law. Besides this, it is a fact that all God Almighty demands—essentially—is that nobody associate partners with Him, no one disobey Him, and no one deny His existence. He does not consider other types of sins as truly sinning until His laws have been revealed.