J. 8
S.6 A.148-151
~~I ~):-I
"Have ye any (certain) Knowledge? If so, produce It before us. Ye follow Nothing but conjecture: Ye do nothing but lie." Say: "With Allah is the argument 973 That reaches home: if it had Been His Will. He could Indeed have guided you all." Say: "Bring forward your witnesses To prove that Allah did Forbid so and so." If they Bring such witnesses, Be not thou amongst them:974 Nor follow thou the vain Desires of such as treat Our Signs as falsehoods, And Such as believe not In the Hereafter: for they Hold others as equal With their Guardian Lord. 97s SECfION 19. 151. Say: "Come, I will rehearse
What Allah hath (really)97f> Prohibited you from": join not Anything with Him:
973. On the other hand, the argument cuts true and deep, as from Allah to His creatures. Allah is Omnipotent, and can do all that we can conceive. But He, in His Wisdom, has given man some responsibility, and some choice in order to train man's will. If man fails, he is helped in various ways by Allah's mercy and grace. But man cannot go on sinning, and in a state of sin, expect Allah to be pleased with him (vi. 147). 974. The Pagan superstitions were of course baseless, and in many cases harmful and debasing. If Allah's name was taken as supporting them, no true man of God could be taken in, or join in support simply because Allah's name was taken in vain.
975. Cf. vi. 1. Allah, who created and who cherishes and cares for all, should have the first claim on our attention. Those who set up false gods fail to understand Allah's true governance or their own true destiny. 976. Instead of following Pagan superstitions, and being in constant terror of imaginary taboos and prohibitions. we should study the true moral law, whose sanction
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