Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 449
9 May 1908 449 it would have been their right to work themselves into a fury and frenzy and abuse me to their heart’s content, but when the Quran itself and the very Hadith are striking them a blow, they have absolutely no right to showcase this degree of pretentious passion. The principal point is that in this tribulation-filled time, Allah Almighty has willed to form a distinct body [of Muslims] by eradicating impurity that He might illustrate to the world that this is what is [truly] called ‘Islam’. The circumstances fall under the control of two catego- ries—faith and works—yet the Muslims of this age have given a bad name to Islam in each of these two aspects. Islam is pure from every stain and victorious in every battle, but I cannot imagine that Islam could ever be victorious through the means which these people have embraced. Hell is not Everlasting Islam is a faith so pure and perfect that no criticism can possibly exist over any of its beliefs. Some people have objected that if it is accepted that Hell is permanent and that the punishment of dying in the state of disbelief is also eternal with no end, then an inevitable injustice follows from this that runs contrary to the infinite mercy of God Almighty. However, the fundamen- tal principle is that the permanence of Hell is not like the per- manence of Paradise with no end, because the Creator of the faculties through which man commits sin is ultimately God Himself. After all, man certainly didn’t fetch those faculties and that nature out of his home [i. e. they were not created by man]. Granted that people sometimes maintain possession and control over the commission and omission of deeds, and per- petrate evil themselves, but insofar as God is the Creator of