The Light of Truth — Page 5
THE ULAMA OF INDIA 5 its strength and become divided. Like locusts, they have scattered far and wide, and their souls, which incite to evil, dashed heedlessly like rushing horses. They have abandoned the ways of the righteous and the humble. Such are the conditions of the common folk. The condition of the ulama of this country, however, is worse than this. Most of them would have nothing to do if they weren't calling a truthful person a liar or declaring a believer a disbeliever. They possess little knowledge, equal to the amount of water the smallest bird can hold in its beak-or perhaps less than this—but their arrogance is greater than the arrogance of Satan. They promote their own selves without merit, whereas the one who occupies a high station with regard to blessings and knowledge is in their view an ignorant fool. The one whose heart is filled with faith and understanding is nothing to them save a kāfir [disbeliever] and dajjal [deceiver]. Observe how these truths have become hidden from them, and this is indeed how Allah ordains the fate of those who deviate from the right path and transgress. You have seen how we have been har- assed by their tongues-they have accused us of lying, insulted us, cursed us but we had neither done any wrong to them nor were we guilty of any crime. Yet even this did not satisfy them; indeed, they rushed towards us with rage, and called us kāfirs. It was not proper for them to speak about the Muslims [in this manner] except in fear. But they do not care for the prohibitions of the Master of Glory-indeed, their works are something else altogether. They say to the Muslims, 'You are not a believer, though they know that with these words they forsake the Quran, and they have indeed abandoned it. Thus they have become distant from the truth and their hearts have hardened. They do as they please. They do not fear committing falsehood or fabrication and so, they lied about us and incited many ignorant peo- ple to harm us. They accused us of disbelief without knowledge and without any clear proof. Foremost among them in these declarations is a shaikh who is