The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 88
T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO T HE L IGHT OF T HE HOLY Q U R’AN—NUM BE R T WO 88 of five thousand rupees, because even such ignorant people raise objections against Islam who till now have not even come to know the meaning of qa da. How can an imbecile, who cannot even articulate words in their proper context, be qualified to quib- ble over intricacies? As far as the objection of four Prayers being combined at the time when the Trench was being dug is concerned, the answer to this idiotic cavil is that God Almighty says religion does not encumber; that is, it does not impose such stringency as would cause man’s ruin. This is why He has ordained that Prayers should be combined and shortened in exigencies and afflictions. Regarding this particular occasion, however, there is no trust- worthy hadith which mentions that four [obligatory Prayers] were combined. In fact, it is written in Fat h ul-B a r i Shar h S a hih al-Bukh a r i , that what happened was that one Prayer—that is, the ‘A s r Prayer —was offered later than usual when its time was run- ning out. Had you been standing right now in front of me, I would have sat you down and asked you whether there is a consensus regard- ing the narration concerning the lapse of four Prayers. Combining four Prayers is in itself permissible according to the Shariah; namely, Z uhr with ‘A s r , and Maghrib with ‘Ish a ’. Yes, in one d a ‘i f [weak] narration it is mentioned that Z uhr , ‘A s r , Maghrib , and ‘Ish a ’ were offered together, but other s a hih [authentic] a ha d i th refute it. The only thing proven is that the ‘A s r was offered at the very last minute. You are utterly bereft of any knowledge of Arabic and are extremely ignorant. Just come to Qadian and meet me, so then at least the books may be presented before you in order to somewhat chastise the lying slanderer, even if it be