The Reality of Khilafah — Page 93
Chapter Two—About the Mahdi 93 face to face,’ because they did not even exist in the time of Moses. How then did the thunderbolt overtake them? How were they raised after death? How did they escape the fate of death? How could Allah have caused the clouds to provide shade for them and sent down on them Manna and Salwa? How was He to save them from the calamity while they did not even exist and were born many centuries later? No one bears the burden of another. Allah does not judge a man in place of another, for He is the Most Just. The reality is that Allah considered them to be similar to their forefathers due to their beliefs, and so He called them by the name of their ancestors, making them the inheritors of their traits. This is the eternal practice of Allah. If, like the ignorant, you claim that the descent of Jesus, peace be upon him, is to be taken literally, then you are in grave error because the death of Jesus is confirmed by the words of the Quran. The meaning of the word ی ّ تَوَف [ tawaff i ] has been explained by the Holy Prophet s as ; hence, there is no room for misinterpretation in this regard. The word nuz u l [descent] was also categorically inter- preted by the Seal of the Prophets. It is also used in the Quran and Hadith in various contexts. How could anyone challenge the meaning of tawaff i that has become evident from the words of the Holy Prophet and Ibn ‘Abb a s, which clearly indicate that tawaff i means that he died and nothing else. No doubt should now remain for the believers as to its meaning. Can verses that are susceptible to different interpretations be the same as categorical and unequivocal verses of the Holy Quran? Nay, they can never be the same. No one clings to the verses that are not categorical except those whose hearts are diseased and they are not among the righteous. Tawaff i is a decisive word whose meaning is clearly