The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page ccxxvi
GENERAL INTRODUCTION H: How do you judge his general ability and his capacity for judgement? A-S: We have never found any fault in his ability and his capacity for judgement. H: What are his followers like? are they poor and humble? A-S: Mostly poor and humble and Are they big and powerful persons or young. H: Do their numbers tend to increase or decrease? A-S: To increase. H: Do his followers ever go back to their old beliefs? A-S: No. H: Has he ever broken a pledge? A-S: Not so far. But we have recently entered into a new pact with him. Let us see what he does about it. H: Have you had any fight with him yet? A-S: Yes. H: With what result? A-S: Like buckets on a wheel, victory and defeat alternate between us and him. In the Battle of Badr, for instance, in which I was not present, he was able to overpower our side. In the Battle of Uhud, in which I commanded our side, we took his side to task. We tore their stomachs, their ears and their noses, H: But what does he teach? A-S: That we should worship the One God and not set up equals with Him. He preaches against the idols our forefathers worshipped. He wants us, instead, to worship the Only God, to speak only truth and always to abjure all vicious and corrupt practices. He exhorts us to be good to one another and to keep our covenants and discharge our trusts. This interesting conversation came to an end and then the Kaiser said: I first asked you about his family and you said he belonged to a noble family. In truth, Prophets always come of noble families. I then asked you if anyone before him had made a similar claim and you said, No. I asked you this question because I thought that if in the recent past someone had made such a claim, then one could say that this Prophet was imitating that claim. I then asked you whether he had ever been charged with lying before his claim had been announced and you said, No. I inferred from this that a person who does not lie about men will not lie about God. I next asked you if there had been a king among his forefathers and you said, No. From this I understood that his claim could not be a subtle plan for the recovery of the kingdom. I then сс