The Light of Truth — Page 299
REFUTING OBJECTIONS Bear in mind that in the present age—which is an age of contemplation and scrutiny-you have surely realized in your own minds that the beliefs you hold are mere tales which cause great harm and lead young men and women to laugh at you. Therefore, you desire to cover them with the curtain of tawīlāt [interpretation], so that you may be saved from the rebukes and jeers of those who curse. For this reason, you embellished your lies to nullify the truth thereby—and you were a people who exceeded all bounds. As for your beliefs being impure, this is not something that can be hidden from mankind or from the eye of the intelligent, who possess understanding and the ability to reason. Do you not worship Jesus in this age the way you worshipped him during the revelation of the Quran? Do you not exalt him and venerate him and aggrandise him as the God of the universe? Do you not say that every matter has been entrusted to Jesus; that he is God in the present world and the hereafter; that he is the one to whom you will be returned and presented? And he will judge between you like a great and noble king? And you will recognize him by his appearance as the Son of Mary? O polytheists! Die of shame! How will you conceal your associating partners with Allah when your secrets have been revealed and the news has spread; and when you have propa- gated your beliefs in such haste, running forth like the fledgling of an ostrich? I have recognized you and I have recognized your ruse and strategy, so how can I think favourably of you after being enlightened? You are a people who misguide mankind through your many deceptions, to incline them towards your ignorant beliefs, to make them accept your myths, and to come to you as though they were mesmerized. I have heard you vilify my Prophet through both falsehood and fabrication, and so, I have been burned by these two fires. However, I complain to Allah alone, and He is the Best of Helpers. 299