The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 151
T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH 151 nor would he resolve his mind to pick the fruit—such a thought, however, could certainly cross his mind that had the fruit been his own property, he could eat it. Such a thought would not be incompatible with perfection [of his morals]. You will recall how your so-called ‘God’ was unable to withstand the pangs of a little hunger and how he hurried towards the fig tree. Can you prove that the tree was his or his father’s property? Thus, the man who could not restrain himself upon seeing someone else’s tree and rushed towards it to satiate his hunger, could not—in your own words—even be a perfect human being, let alone be ‘God’. In short, it is irrelevant if someone admires something for its beauty. Whoever has been bestowed eyes by God, can differenti- ate between beautiful and ugly just as he can differentiate between a flower and a thorn. Perhaps your so-called God was not blessed by nature with this ability to differentiate. However, out of hun- ger, he did rush towards the fig tree without even considering to whom it belonged. How strange that a glutton and a drunkard is not called las- civious, whereas the holy personage [of the Prophet s as ], whose life and whose every deed was for the sake of God, is branded as ‘given to carnal pleasures’ by the filthy people of this age! What a strange age of darkness this is! It is but one example of the sublime teach- ing of Islam that it says one should never deliberately raise one’s eyes to look upon a woman, for it is a prelude to evil thoughts, and if you do, per chance, glance at a beautiful woman and she appears attractive to you, then you should ward off that thought by going to bed with your own wife.