The Light of Truth — Page 115
REFUTING OBJECTIONS of a sincere counsellor and, inflamed in the fire [of hate], hurl insults? What is the matter with you that you do not pay heed to this and become fearful, and that your tears do not flow and your body does not quiver, and that you do not repent remorsefully? Do you not see that you have exceeded the limits and devi- ated through such beliefs; that you have forsaken the source and inclined to baseless excesses; and that you have opposed the Awwalin and the Akhirin? Why do you not listen to the voice of this caller, and why do you not follow this shepherd? On the contrary, you strike like vipers and pounce like raven- ous wolves; and you walk about arrogantly and boastfully, as though you are deaf, dumb, and blind. Indeed, in inviting you [to faith], my case is like the case of one who converses with a dumb animal, or calls out to a hard rock, or speaks to the dead. Oh how I pity those who converted to Christianity, and turned away from the clear truth! They sleep like the carefree. They let go of the coat-tails of beautiful and charming [beliefs] and instead inclined towards the ugly and repugnant ones. They rejected Allah with great ingratitude. They discarded His command the way a tattered shoe is discarded, and with great audacity they disbelieved in a [Divinely] signed Book. 115 1. The term al-Awwalin (lit. 'the first ones') refers to the blessed Companionsra of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsas who upheld his teachings, and al-Akhirin (lit. 'the later ones') refers to a group of latter-day Muslims who would be counted among the righteous Companions for reviving those true teachings. [Publisher]