The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 247
The Messiah and his Second Coming be demolished by the power of God. 247 In order to facilitate appreciation of this objection, we proceed to set forth the meaning of la 'nat [curse. ] In Li- sān-ul-'Arab, which is an old Arabic lexicon and is an Is- lamic publication, in Qatr-ul-Muhīt, Muhīt and Aqrab-ul- Mavārid which have been compiled by two Christian lexicographers and have been recently published in Bei- rut, and in all other lexicons, the meaning of la 'nat is set out as follows: اللعن: الابعاد والطرد من الخير و من الله و من الخلق و من أبعده الله لم تلحقه رحمته و خلّد في العذاب - واللعين الشيطان الممسوخ - وقال الشماخ مقام الذئب كالرجل اللعين 192 An accursed one is he who is deprived of all good and of the mercy of God and the comprehension of God and is condemned to everlasting torment, that is to say, his heart is wholly deprived of all good and be- comes Satan and acquires the qualities of swine and apes. The poet Shammākh calls an accursed one a wolf because his inner self has become corrupted. When it is said that a person is under God's curse everyone understands that he has become truly vicious and faithless and a Satan in the estimation of God and that God is dis- gusted with him and he has turned away from God. . . . We wish to inquire most respectfully from Christian clerics if it is true that such a curse, with all its characteristics, had been imposed by God Almighty on Jesus and that under this curse he had fallen under the wrath of God and become black-hearted and had turned away from God? In my esti- mation such a person who designates a chosen one of God 192 The word la 'n is common in Arabic and Hebrew. [Author]