Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 257
27 December 1905 257 any dictionary. And if you cannot show it and it does not exist, then fear God Almighty because this is a source of shirk. It is the result of this mistake that Muslims are subdued by the Christians. If the Christians ask, ‘Given that you acknowl- edge Christ to be alive and that he is in heaven, and you also accept his coming and even that he will come as the H akam [Arbiter]—now, tell me what doubt is left about his being God, while it is also not established that he will die?’ It is a mat- ter of great trouble that a Christian should ask a question to which there should be no answer. So this mistake’s ill effect has increased to this extent. The issue of the Messiah’s death was indeed not so signifi- cant that it required a magnificent Appointee of God, but I see that the condition of Muslims has become rather precarious. They have stopped reflecting upon the Holy Quran, and their practical condition has deteriorated. If their practical condition had been sound and they paid attention to the Holy Quran and its words, they would have never arrived at such meanings. It is for this reason that they concocted these meanings of their own accord. The word ْ تَوَفِّی ْ تَوَفِّی — tawaff i was not a strange and new word; its meaning given in all the dictionaries of Arabic—regardless of who it is written by—is ‘death’. Then why would they them- selves fabricate the meaning of being raised to heaven with the physical body? I would not have been concerned had they applied this very meaning of the word to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, since this very word has also been used for him in the Holy Quran, as it states: 1 َو اَّمِا َكَّنَيِرُن َضْعَب ْيِذَّلا ْمُهُدِعَن ْوَا َكَّنَيَّفَوَتَن۠ َو اَّمِا َكَّنَيِرُن َضْعَب ْيِذَّلا ْمُهُدِعَن ْوَا َكَّنَيَّفَوَتَن۠ 1. And if We make you witness a part of what We promised them or cause you to die before that, to Us shall be their return ( S u rah Y u nus, 10:47). [Publisher]