The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 435
Repeated Challenges 435 ward, and if he believes in the truth of his religion, let him compete with me in the manifestation of heavenly signs. But I tell you beforehand that no one will come forward. They will try to evade my challenge by present- ing dishonest and complicated conditions. This is be- cause their religions are dead and they have no one alive from whom they can receive spiritual grace and from whom they can obtain a life shining with signs. [Tiryāq-ul-Qulüb, Rūķānī Khazā'in vol. 15, pp. 140-141] Divine Permission for Mubāhalah against Maulavīs In the early days I had thought that I was not at liberty to challenge Muslims to a Mubāhalah, because Mubāhalah involves calling down a curse on each other, and it is not permissible to call down a curse on a Muslim; but my opponents from among the Muslims persist in denounc- ing me as a disbeliever, and, under the Islamic dispensa- tion, he who denounces a true Muslim as a disbeliever himself becomes the subject of such denunciation. I have, therefore, been commanded to challenge to a Mubāhalah those who denounce me as disbeliever and possess sons and daughters and are the originators of the denunciations directed at me. [Ā'īna-e-Kamālāt-e-Islām, Rūķānī Khazā'in, vol. 5, p. 332] In the beginning I avoided the Mubahalah, because I believed that a curse should not be called down on a Muslim. But now I have been told that he who denounces a Muslim as a disbeliever, and does not desist, even though his opponent faces the Ka'bah when he prays, professes belief in the Unity of God, the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and other Islamic doctrines, such a person is himself excluded from Islām. I have, therefore, been