The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 489
488 Ā'ĪNA-E-KAMĀLĀT-E-ISLĀM―DĀFI‘UL-WASĀWIS clothing, food, and pleasure and things are transported from one part of the land to the other. Look how people have been brought close together as if they are sitting on the same boat! Travel by land and sea has caused people to come together and through these voyages they get acquainted with one another. One of the means of such closeness is the letters that are sent swiftly through mail. Look how they are sent to the remote corners of the world! If you look deeply into the matter, the abundance of mail may cause you to wonder and you will not find the like of it in earlier times. Similarly, the abundance of travellers and traders may also cause you to wonder. In short, the means available today for bringing people close and for developing good acquaintance between them are unprec- edented in history. I beseech you by God! Have you ever seen or read in books any- thing the like thereof previously? As far as the spreading of books is concerned, it signifies their means of publication; that is, the invention of the printing press. As you see, Allah has raised a people who have invented the printing machines. Hence, you find plenty of printing presses established in Hindustan and other countries. This is an act of God in order to help us in our cause to spread our faith and books, and to convey our message to those who listen to it, that they might follow the right path. As far as the shaking of the earth and its ‘casting out' whatever is in her is concerned, it signifies the great revolution you are witnessing with your own eyes, a presage of the rise of many branches of worldly knowledge, new inventions, discoveries, innovations, evils, stratagems, deceptions, and all of their manufactures. As far as the scattering of stars is concerned, it signifies the evils of the ulema and the departure of the righteous from the world. As you observe, the signs of true knowledge have become extinct and effaced, and some from the men of knowledge have passed away while others have become blind and deaf. Then Allah turned to them in mercy, yet