A Message of Peace — Page 43
M ESSAGE OF P EACE 43 to Israelites beseeched him with humility for him to show her ‘the way’, he rejected her plea. The poor woman even went to the extent of likening herself to a dog to evoke pity, and implored guidance. He again rejected her plea on the ground that he was sent only for the sheep of the House of Israel. Finally, she was silenced. But Our Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) nowhere pronounced that he had been sent only for the Arabs. On the contrary, the Holy Qur’an commands him to say: 27 That is, tell the people that I am a Messenger to you all from Allah. It should be remembered that it was no fault of Jesus as that he gave such a curt answer to the woman. The time had not yet come for a universal teaching. This was the teaching vouchsafed to Jesus as by God: You are specifically sent for the House of Israel. You have no concern with others. As I mentioned above, the moral teachings of Jesus were confined to the Jews. The Torah taught “a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, and an ear for the ear” 28. The purport of the teaching was to provide a commandment to the Jews to establish justice and prevent them from committing transgres- sions and excesses. This was necessary because having spent four hundred years in slavery, cruelty and meanness had become their second nature. Hence the profound Wisdom of God so planned that to counter the overemphasis of cruelty and revenge in their natures, the teachings of forgiveness and 27. ( al-A‘r a f, 7:159) 28. See ( Exodus, 21:24), ( Leviticus, 24:20), and ( Deuteronomy, 19:21). [Publisher]. . .