The Holy War — Page 15
Proceedings—Debate 22 May 1893 15 1 ْدَق ْتَلَخ ْنِم ِهِلْبَق ُلُسُّرلا Meaning that the Messiah, peace be upon him, was undoubtedly a Prophet and a beloved Messenger of Allah, the Lord of Glory, but he was a human being. Open your eyes and see that always and eternally, ever since this system of conveying the Message [of Allah] and reveal- ing the Divine Word began, only human beings have been coming into the world upon being bestowed the status of Messenger [of Allah]. Or has it ever been the case that a son of Allah, the Exalted, also came? And the word ْتَلَخ [ khalatt —‘passed away’] draws attention towards this, that acquiring knowledge about the state of affairs of the people of the past by looking as far back as possible into the historic record, one should ponder well and try to understand whether this system has ever broken; can one present any such occurrence by which it may be proven that this phenomenon is even within the realm of possibilities; that before also, every now and then, this indeed used to happen. So a wise man should pause here for a moment and—being fearful of Allah, the Lord of Glory—reflect within his heart that the system of events and occurrences demands its precedent be found sometime in some era. Sure, if we ascribe a literal interpretation to all those Prophets and virtuous ones of the Bible regarding whom the Bible also contains words saying that they were the sons of God Almighty or that they were gods, then we would undoubtedly be forced to admit in such circumstances that it is the practice of God Almighty that He sends His sons as well; nay rather, sons aside, sometimes even daughters. And prima facie this appears to be an excellent argument should the hon- ourable Christian gentlemen be pleased to assert it, and no one could even refute it since there is no mention there whatsoever of being real or metaphoric [sons]; rather, some are even referred to as the firstborn. 1. All Messengers before him have passed away ( S u rah al-M a ’idah, 5:76). [Publisher]