The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 246
MISCONCEPTION IN NUR AFSHĀN 245 a new life exhibit such behaviour? Is this the kind of 'loyalty' such people express towards their leader, master, and guide? The revered Messiah's own words, which are mentioned in the Gospels, also estab- lish the point that his disciples, friends, and companions, who spent their days and nights with him and enjoyed the closest relationship with him, were entirely devoid of spirituality. Thus, the honourable Messiah, peace be upon him, describes some of them as weak of faith and another as 'Satan'. If we set aside the disciples and observe those Christians who have appeared after him from time to time up to this day, we do not see a single one of them who has risen out of the grave of worldliness and ego and awakened into the resurrection of a new life. On the contrary, all of them appear dead and putrefied in the dark and narrow graves of self-conceit. The breath of spiritual life has never blown upon them. They do not even know who God is, what His great- ness and power are, and how He bestows a pure life on pure hearts and grants them His nearness. They revel in declaring a weak human being 'God' and placing the burden of others' sins upon him without any justification. Bear in mind that death is of four kinds: the death of heedlessness, the death of sin, the death of shirk [associating partners with God], and the death of disbelief. Accordingly, this death-of all four kinds― is found in the religion of Christianity: The death of heedlessness, because all their energies are devoted to the gatherings and adornments of this world, and they are not the least concerned with removing the veils that separate them from God Almighty; then, if you wish to see the death of sin, you may witness it by visiting Europe and observing how little modesty, purity, and chastity remains in them; then, so far as the death of shirk is concerned, it is evident enough that you can see how they have turned a man into God and forgotten God Almighty; finally, there is the death of disbelief, because they have denied the true Messenger. It is clear from all these statements that to think of the revered Messiah as being the resurrection, through whom the spirit- ually dead are revived, is an absolutely absurd idea and a baseless claim.