The Holy War — Page 56
56 God Almighty included the angels with Him. And Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Bahadur has written that the others in this phrase refers to that class of Adams before the commonly known Adam, who were destroyed because of their sins, and that in the words لو ممنو , it is not the ‘first person including others’ but rather the ‘third person plural’ form that is meant. The purpose of both these people being that the teaching of multiplicity in Unity should thus be prevented from being proven. Second— Now we ask the following questions from these people: Firstly, to the Jews, where is the reference to your angels in the text of the Scripture? Is the linguistic form ‘us’ not a pronoun? And is it not necessary for a pronoun to have a referent nearby? And if some statement should not identify a referent in itself then is that statement not said to be confusing and unintelligible? For example, if I were to say to somebody that ‘it was like this’ and before or after this statement, I do not make clear as to what ‘it’ was, then is this not a confusing statement? Thus, when they talk of the compan- ionship of angels, they should show these angels within the very body of the text. Secondly, if the angels are indeed referred to here, then their knowledge of evil must be either inherent or earned. If it is inherent, then they cannot be created beings because inherent knowledge is a characteristic of one who is self-existing, and if it is earned, then this earning makes them impure. So then how could they be worthy of going in the company of the Most Pure Creator? Our first question to Sir Syed is that same one. Where is the referent in the text about the Adams who were there before the commonly known Adam that you perceive? Let alone finding such mention from the text, where, from geology—of which you are proud—can you find it? Besides this, if not in geology, let us know even if you find such mention in any of the other sciences. We are certain that he will never be able to find any such thing, nor can the Jews discharge this duty. They only present false ideas to silence the